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SOUTHERN ORATORS 

SPEECHES AND ORATIONS 



SELECTED AND EDITED BY 
JOSEPH MOORE McCONNELL, M.A., Ph.D. 

PROFESSOR OF HISTORY AND POLITICAL ECONOMY 
DAVIDSON COLLEGE, N.C. 



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PREFACE 

In presenting to the public this collection of Southern 
oratory, I wish to explain that I do not consider it in any 
sense complete. The selections are confined chiefly to 
the field of political oratory. Even this limited division 
of the field is exceedingly rich in material, and doubtless 
some speakers are omitted who deserve a place, while 
others are included who would not ordinarily be con- 
sidered. In a few cases, I have desired to give a speci- 
men of a speaker's oratory, but could not find a suitable 
selection. Most of the men selected are of national as 
well as of local reputation. Though at the present time 
we have a number of orators of unusual excellence, par- 
ticularly among our leaders in education, lack of space 
has prevented me from including any of them. 

My chief purpose in preparing this volume has been to 
interest the young men of the South and the nation in 
the study of the literary productions and political ideals 
of our forefathers. Americans have always been great 
lovers of oratory, but this was true especially of the genera- 
tions before the Civil War. During that period in our his- 
tory, most of our great leaders were men of eloquent 
speech, and an understanding of their lives and speeches 
is essential to a true conception of our political growth 
and sentiments. In that day, when newspapers were 



viii PREFA CE 

scarce and the postal service undeveloped, public speak- 
ings were the means of educating the people in current 
questions. The average Southerner, though not so widely 
read as his brother at the North, was better informed in 
regard to national political issues. The social organiza- 
tion of his section provided a class who had the leisure 
to study national affairs and who prided themselves on 
being able to instruct the common people clearly and 
forcefully. 

To all those who have given me help in any way, I ex- 
press my sincere thanks. Most of the selections from the 
Revolutionary period were suggested by Mr. A. B. Rhett, 
Charleston, South Carolina. I am peculiarly indebted to 
Dr. Charles W. Kent, University of Virginia, whose en- 
thusiasm in the study of Southern literature is contagious, 
and at whose suggestion I undertook to prepare this 
volume. 

J. Moore McConnell. 

Davidson College, N.C., 
November, 1909. 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Preface vii 

Introduction 

Biographical Notes xiii 

Orations and Addresses 

Give me Liberty or give me Death. March 23, 1775 

Patrick Henry 1 
Address before South Carolina Assembly. April 11, 
1774 . . . . . . . . John Butledge 6 

The Adoption of the Constitution. June 6, 1788 

Edmund Bandolph 10 
Congressional Control of Militia. June 14, 1788 

George Mason 17 
The Trial of Aaron Burr. August 25, 1807 

William Wirt 22 
The Missouri Compromise of 1820. February 15, 

1820 William Pinkney 27 

Retort to McLane. April 12, 1824 John Bandolph 40 
An Address. June 12, 1828 Bobert Barnwell Bhett 44 
The Georgia Protest. January 12, 1829 

Joseph McPherson Berrien 53 
The Apportionment of Representation. November 

3-4, 1829 . . . Benjamin Watkins Leigh 57 

Inaugural Address. December 13, 1832 

Bobert Young Hayne 64 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

The Force Bill and Nullification. February 15, 1833 

John Caldwell Calhoun 72 
The Power of the Executive. April 4, 1834 

George McDuffle 85 
Lafayette. August, 1834 . Sargent Smith Prentiss 98 

The Administration of Andrew Jackson. January 12, 
1837 Thomas Hart Benton 110 

Inaugural Address. October 14, 1839 

James Knox Polk 120 

Inaugural Address. September, 1846 

William Campbell Preston 129 

A Plea for the Union. February 5 and 6, 1850 . 

Henry Clay 138 

The South' s Rights in the Union and in the Public 

Domain. August 9, 1850 

Alexander Hamilton Stephens 152 

Eulogy on Henry Clay. June 30, 1852 

John Cabell Breckinridge 163 

The Nebraska Bill. March 3, 1854 . John Bell 173 

The Kansas-Nebraska Bill. March 3, 1854 

Samuel Houston 183 

Daniel Webster — His Genius and Character. De- 
cember, 1854 . . Henry Washington Hilliard 191 

The American Party and the Roman Catholics. 1855 

Henry Alexander Wise 203 

Admission of Kansas under Lecompton Constitution 
February 25, 1858 . Jabez Lamar Munroe Curry 207 

The Platform of the Democratic Party in 1860. April 
27, 1860 . . . William Lowndes Yancey 215 



CONTENTS xi 

PAGE 

South Carolina and Secession. December 13, 1860 . 

Louis Trezevant Wigfall 227 

On Propositions to the Committee of Thirteen. Jan- 
uary 7, 1861 .... Bobert Toombs 242 

Farewell to the Senate. January 21, 1861 

Jefferson Davis 255 

Farewell to the Senate. February 5, 1861 

Judah Philip Benjamin 262 

Eulogy on Charles Sumner. April 27, 1874 

Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar 273 

The Solid South. May 10, 1879 . . ' . 

Benjamin Harvey Hill 283 

The Scattered Nation. (Repeated) .... 

Zebulon Baird Vance 295 

The New South. December 21, 1886 .... 

Henry Woodfin Grady 306 

Notes 319 



. INTRODUCTION 
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES 

PATRICK HENRY 

Patrick Henry, the greatest of our Revolutionary ora- 
tors, and one of the world's great orators, was born in 
Virginia in 1736. Though he knew a little of the classics 
and mathematics, he was, in the main, poorly educated. 
Early in life, he tried storekeeping as a business, but 
failed at it. He then took up law, and practiced this pro- 
fession till near the end of his life. He was a great states- 
man as well as a great orator, and from 1765 till his 
death in 1799, was one of the leaders in his State and in 
the nation. As an orator, he is chiefly famous for his 
speech in the "Parson's Cause" (-1763), for the one on 
his resolutions to the Virginia Assembly declaring the 
rights of Virginia as opposed to the Stamp Act (1765), 
and for his "Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death" speech 
delivered before the Virginia Convention (1775) in behalf 
of resolutions he had proposed in favor of the colony's 
preparing for armed resistance to Great Britain. Henry 
was twice governor of Virginia, and could have had any 
office in the gift of the people of his State. He was 
offered the chief-justiceship of the United States by 
Washington, but declined it. In 1787^6 was the leader 
in his State of the party opposed to the ratification of the 
Federal Constitution. His eloquence was of the fiery, 



XIV INTRODUCTION 

spontaneous kind that sweeps men from their feet, con- 
vinces them against their judgment, and forces them to 
action. 

JOHN RUTLEDGE 

The leading citizen in South Carolina during the Revo- 
lutionary War was John Rutledge. He was born in 1789. 
After studying law in London, he began to practice in 
Charleston. He was a member of the Continental Con- 
gress, 1774-1777, and of the Confederate Congress, 1782- 
1783. He was chairman of the committee that drafted 
the first constitution for his State, and under the new 
government established thereby was elected the first gov- 
ernor and made' commander in chief of the State's military 
forces. He resigned from these offices in 1778, but was 
immediately reelected by the legislature. South Carolina 
sent him, at the head of her delegation, to the General Con- 
vention that drew up the Federal Constitution. He was 
appointed an associate justice of the United States Su- 
preme Court in 1789, but resigned two years later to 
become chief justice of South Carolina. In 1795, Washing- 
ton nominated him for the chief- justiceship of the United 
States, but the Senate declined to confirm the nomina- 
tion. He died in 1800. Only fragments of his speeches 
remain, but it seems that he was the orator of his State 
during the Revolutionary period. 

EDMUND RANDOLPH 

Edmund Randolph was born at Williamsburg, Vir- 
ginia, 1753. He has graduated at William and Mary 
College, and studied law. He was a member of the com- 



INTRODUCTION XV 

mittee that framed the constitution of Virginia, and 
assisted in drawing up the bill of rights adopted the same 
year (1776). After serving as attorney-general of the 
State, he was sent as a delegate to the Continental Congress. 
He was a member of the Annapolis Convention that is- 
sued a call for a Constitutional Convention. Governor of 
Virginia from 1786-1788, he headed the Virginia delega- 
tion to the General Convention, and was chosen by his 
colleagues to lay the Virginia Plan before the assembled 
delegates. He refused to sign the Constitution as finally 
adopted, but later voted for it in the Virginia State Con- 
vention on the ground that proposed amendments would 
remove his objections. Washington appointed him At- 
torney-general in his first Cabinet, and when Jefferson 
resigned promoted him to the secretaryship of State. He 
opposed the Jay Treaty with England, but Washington 
signed it anyway, and Randolph resigned. The French 
Minister charged him with being willing to accept a bribe, 
but later retracted the accusation. After giving up his 
portfolio, he resumed the practice of law. He was counsel 
for Burr during the latter 's trial at Richmond, 1807. He 
died in Virginia, 1813. Though possessing ability and 
some gifts as a speaker, Randolph seems to have been 
vacillating in character, and consequently failed to live up 
to the opportunities of leadership at one time offered him. 

GEORGE MASON 

The year 1725 is the date, and Virginia the place, of 
George Mason's birth. He was the son of a large planter, 
and was educated at home, never attending college. He 



xvi INTRODUCTION 

first became prominent in his State in 1775, when he was 
the leading member of a committee appointed to draw up 
a bill of rights and constitution for Virginia. The com- 
mittee's report, adopted in 1776, was almost altogether 
his work. He was a member of the Federal Convention 
in 1787, but because of the third compromise and the 
omission of a bill of rights, refused to sign the Constitu- 
tion, and joined Henry in opposing its ratification by the 
State Convention. However, Madison, the " Father of 
the Constitution," supported by the influence of Wash- 
ington and Jefferson, carried the day. Mason died in 1792. 
Power of argument and analysis are his chief characteris- 
tics as a speaker. 

WILLIAM WIRT 

The subject of this sketch was born in Maryland in 
1772. His early training was excellent. In 1792, he was 
admitted to the practice of law in Virginia. Here he 
practiced his profession and filled several political offices, 
till appointed Attorney-general of the United States in 
President Monroe's Cabinet, 1817. He also served in the 
same position throughout President Adams's administra- 
tion. He declined a professorship of law at the Uni- 
versity of Virginia, 1826, and six j^ears later was presi- 
dential candidate on the Anti-Mason ticket, but received 
only seven electoral votes. His death occurred in Wash- 
ington, District of Columbia, 1834. Mr. Wirt was an 
author of some reputation as well as an orator. Among 
his literary productions are: "Letters of a British Spy/' 
"Life of Patrick Henry, " and "The Old Bachelor." His 
most famous speeches are: "The Trial of Aaron Burr," 



INTROD UCTI ON XV11 

"Eulogy on Adams and Jefferson," and "An Address be- 
fore the Literary Societies of Rutgers College." His style 
as an orator was polished, graceful, and literary. 

WILLIAM PINKNEY 

William Pinkney was born in Maryland in 1764. His 
early training was meager, but he studied law, and in 1786 
was admitted to the bar. By constant study, he soon 
established an enviable reputation as an orator and con- 
stitutional lawyer. He was a member of the Maryland 
Convention that ratified the Federal Constitution. He 
was our commissioner to England under the Jay Treaty 
in 1796, and, being selected for similar service in 1806, 
was promoted the following year to the position of Minis- 
ter to England. Between 1811 and 1814, he was Attorney- 
general of the United States. A year later he was elected 
to a seat in Congress, but after a short service in the House, 
resigned to become our Minister to Russia. He was 
elected to the United States Senate in 1819, and continued 
an active member of this body till his death, in 1822. 
His greatest speeches are his speech in the case of the 
Nereide before the United States Supreme Court (1815) ; in 
the case of the United States Bank claiming exemption 
from State taxation (1819); and his famous argument 
against the admission of Missouri with any restrictions 
as to slavery, made during the debate on the Missouri 
Compromise of 1820. His style is elaborate and rhetori- 
cal, but has a decided literary finish. He ranked as 
one of the greatest orators and legal scholars of his 
time. 



xvill INTRODUCTION 



JOHN RANDOLPH 



John Randolph of Roanoke was born in Virginia in 
1773. He was a descendant of Pocahontas. Studious 
as a child, he was given educational advantages, and when 
a young man was a student at Princeton and Columbia 
colleges. His fame as an orator was established in a 
local way in 1799, when he dared to meet Patrick Henry 
in joint debate. In that year he was elected to the 
House of Representatives, where he served his country 
for twenty-four years. He was a member of the United 
States Senate for two years, and for a short time was our 
Minister to Russia. Mr. Randolph was a Democratic Re- 
publican, and clung tenaciously to the original principles 
of the party, even after its leaders had changed in their 
views. He voted against the Missouri Compromise of 
1820. In the Virginia Convention of 1829-1830, he op- 
posed any change in the constitution of 1776. While a 
member of the United States Senate he attacked Clay in 
a violent speech, charging him with having made a bar- 
gain with John Quincy Adams by which Adams was 
elected President by the House and Clay was given the 
secretaryship of State. Clay challenged Randolph, and 
they met, but the duel was bloodless. Randolph died in 
1833. As an orator he was brilliant and courageous, but 
his disposition was moody and his judgment erratic. He 
made a valuable member of the Opposition, where his sar- 
casm and "long bony finger " kept the party in power in 
constant uneasiness lest he pick out and denounce some 
ill-considered act. His greatest speeches, perhaps, are the 
following, all of which were delivered in Congress : " Non- 



INTRODUCTION xix 

Importation of Goods from Great Britain/' March, 1806; 
"Internal Improvements/' January, 1824; and "Re- 
trenchment," February, 1828. 

ROBERT BARNWELL RHETT 

Robert Barnwell Rhett, "the paramount advocate of 
the secession of South Carolina/' was the son of James 
and Marianna Smith. He was born at Beaufort, South 
Carolina, December 24, 1800, and died in Louisiana, Sep- 
tember 14, 1876. He adopted the name Rhett (from a 
colonial ancestor) in 1837. 

He studied law, and in 1826 was elected to the State 
legislature. He issued, June 12, 1828, the Colleton Ad- 
dress, which instituted the Nullification movement. He 
urged resistance to the tariff, " not from a desire for dis- 
union," but to "bring back the Constitution to its original 
uncorrupted principles." He opposed the Compromise of 
1833, foreseeing no guarantee of the keeping of that com- 
promise, and had already reached the conclusion that 
secession was inevitable. 

In 1833 Rhett was elected attorney-general of his State, 
and in 1836 was sent to Congress. From the first he was 
a leading advocate of strict construction and of State 
rights. His leading many of the Southern members from 
the House after Slade's attack upon slavery in 1838, led 
to the adoption of the Twenty-first Rule, excluding Aboli- 
tion petitions. In 1839, and in the following session, he 
made important speeches on the Independent Treasury 
Bill, the Treasury Note Bill, the Fortification Bill, and 
the Tariff. 



XX INTRODUCTION 

When the Democratic party, 1844, failed to restore the 
tariff of 1833, Rhett urged resistance by South Carolina, 
stating that if resistance were not made on the tariff 
issue, it would come on the more delicate and sectional 
one of slavery. 

During the Polk administration Rhett supported the 
admission of Texas, and, in opposition to Calhoun, the 
war policy. He was brought again into friendly relations 
with Calhoun by his speech against squatter sovereignty, 
the first made in the House on that subject. During the 
dispute over the Oregon boundary, he delivered an able 
argument on the peace side, although warned that such a 
stand meant political destruction. Recognized now by 
zeal, sincerity, and ability in debate as one of the most 
influential leaders of the administration party in Congress, 
he was, 1847, the unsuccessful candidate of that party 
for the speakership. In 1849, he declined reelection to 
the House. 

Again in opposition to Calhoun, he supported Cass, as 
did South Carolina. When the Southern States held their 
convention at Nashville, 1850, Rhett prepared the Ad- 
dress of the Convention. In 1850 he was elected, upon 
the death of Calhoun, to the United States Senate. Al- 
ready the leader of the secession party of the State, from 
this date he was the most powerful political influence 
within her borders. In the South Carolina Convention of 
1851-1852 he urged from first to last the immediate 
secession of the State. Upon the refusal of the conven- 
tion to secede, he resigned the senatorship, feeling re- 
buked in his advanced views. 

He remained in retirement until elected a delegate to 



INTRODUCTION XXI 

the Secession Convention, 1860, where he served as one of 
the committee to draft the ordinance. Elected a delegate 
to the • Convention of Southern States at Montgomery, 
1861, he was considered for the presidency of the Con- 
federacy as the leader of the extreme party. As chairman 
of the committee on the new constitution, he proposed 
the leading changes which it contains. 

After this, he devoted himself to influencing public 
opinion through the columns of the Charleston Mercury, 
in the latter years of the war making it a recognized 
leader of the opposition to the Davis administration, in 
its advocacy of a more energetic and decisive policy. 
After the war, again in private life, he occupied himself in 
vindicating the measures of the past through the medium 
of the same columns. His last public appearance was as 
a delegate to the Democratic National Convention, 1868. 

JOHN MACPHERSON BERRIEN 

John Macpherson Berrien was born in New Jersey in 
1781. His father moved to Georgia, but when the boy 
grew up returned him to Princeton College in his native 
State for his education. He studied law, and began to 
practice in Georgia in 1799 at the age of nineteen. Be- 
tween 1809 and 1821, he was first solicitor, and then judge, 
in his district. He was a member of the United States 
Senate, 1824-1829, resigning the latter year to become 
Attorney-general in President Jackson's Cabinet. He 
gave up this office in 1831, and was offered the mission to 
Great Britain, but declined. He served again in the 
United States Senate between 1841-1845 and 1847-1852. 



xxn INTRODUCTION 

He was on the Georgia Supreme Bench, 1845-1847. He 
died in 1856. "His speech in the Senate on the constitu- 
tionality of the bankrupt law won general commendation, 
and drew from Mr. Clay a graceful compliment in open 
session of the Senate." (Appleton's Encyclopedia.) His 
orations are characterized by scholarship and literary 
finish. 

BENJAMIN WATKINS LEIGH 

Benjamin Watkins Leigh was born in Chesterfield 
County, Virginia, June 18, 1781. After a preliminary 
education he entered the College of William and Mary, 
and, in 1802, graduated from that historic institution. 
Having served at a later period as a member of the Vir- 
ginia House of Delegates, he was elected in 1829 to the 
State Constitutional Convention, in which body he served 
with distinguished ability. 

In 1834 Mr. Leigh was elected to the United States 
Senate from Virginia, as a Whig, vice William C. Rives, 
Democrat, who had resigned. Though reelected for six 
years, he served in all only two or three years; that is, 
from March 5, 1834, till some time in 1836, resigning that 
year. Mr. Wise, who is quoted below, declared Mr. 
Leigh to be a debater "of the senatorial order' 7 ; and 
thinks that, had he been earlier in the Senate, as long 
as Clay, Webster, or Calhoun, he would have been the 
master in that body, even with all three of those just 
named present. 

From 1829 to 1841 Mr. Leigh was the official reporter 
of the Virginia State Court of Appeals. He died at Rich- 
mond, February 2, 1849. 



INTRODUCTION XX111 

An eminent contemporary, Henry Alexander Wise, 
describes Mr. Leigh and his manner of speaking in the 
following terms: — 

"He was a small man, yet in speaking seemed large, 
so elevated was he by his theme, and so gallant and 
game was his mien. He was lame, one leg shortened, 
and wore a cork sole on one of his boots. When about to 
be emphatic, he usually caught his left wrist in his right 
hand and sank back on his lame leg, pausing to poise 
himself, and, as he rose to the climax of what he was 
about to utter, would bear upon his sound leg and rise 
on it with his hands free. This attitude was not always 
graceful, but always excited sympathy in his hearer for 
his infirmity. ... 

" He was not a vehement orator in tone, but was most 
earnest in utterance and manner. He had a soft, clear, 
flutelike voice, but it was not loud. He carried no 
audience by vociferation or violent action ; but he trickled, 
as it were, gently upon his hearers, and they were held 
in mute attention by a murmuring music, his eye looking 
more than he said, and his speech and bearing glowing 
with a genial integrity of thought which put opposition 
to blush, it was so clear, so simple, so pure, so generous, 
so just, and so warm with manly honor and feeling. 
Every word was right in the right place, his accent and 
pronunciation were precisely correct, and the modulation 
of his voice was natural and sweetly touching." 

ROBERT YOUNG HAYNE 

Hayne was born in 1791. Coming of a cultured family, 
his early training was good. He studied law under Lang- 



xxiv INTRODUCTION 

don Cheves, a leader in the State, and began practice in 
1812. The war. with England beginning that year, he 
entered the service with a regiment of volunteers, and 
remained in the army till peace was made. He was 
elected to the State legislature soon afterwards, and in 
1818 was chosen speaker of the House. The same year 
he was elected attorney-general of his state and served 
four years. In 1823 he was sent to the United States 
Senate. Here he made his voice heard against the Pro- 
tective Tariff Bills introduced in Congress. In January, 
1832, he and Webster had their famous debate over the 
rights of the States and the general government under the 
Federal Constitution. Hayne argued for State rights and 
nullification. Though he was historically correct in his 
interpretation of the Constitution, he gave utterance to 
the ideals of the past. Webster, who contended for 
nationality and the Union, though historically inaccurate 
at points, spoke the mind of the future, and posterity has 
given him the greater praise. In the argument, Webster 
was able to overthrow Hayne only in the point where the 
Southerner made the mistake of declaring the general 
government to be a party to the contract instead of the 
agent of the states. Though Hayne displayed remarkable 
oratorical ability in the brilliant debate, Webster's speech, 
as we have it, is superior in structure and literary finish. 
In 1832 Hayne presided over the South Carolina Nullifica- 
tion Convention, and a month later was elected governor 
of the State. His inaugural is a gem of oratory. He died 
in 1839 while planning to build a railroad across the Blue 
Ridge, which he hoped would identify the interests of his 
section and the West, and bring them together politically. 



INTRODUCTION xxv 

JOHN CALDWELL CALHOUN 

John C. Calhoun, the "Great Nullifier," was born in 
South Carolina, 1782, and died in Washington, District of 
Columbia, 1850. After a brief course under his brother-in- 
law, Dr. Waddell, who conducted an unusually success- 
ful boys' school during his day, Calhoun entered Yale. 
Within three years he had graduated with honor, and at 
once began the study of law. Admitted to practice, 1807, 
he located in South Carolina. After serving in the State 
legislature, he was elected to Congress in 1811. From 
this time till his death, he was almost constantly in office 
under the national government, either as representative 
in Congress, Senator, Vice President, Secretary of War, 
or Secretary of State. He was a leader" in Congress in 
bringing on war with England in 1812, and for a few 
years after the war advocated a protective tariff, a na- 
tional bank, internal improvements by the Federal gov- 
ernment, and other nationalistic policies. During his 
secretaryship of war, however, he witnessed the fight in 
Congress over the Missouri Compromise of 1820, and also 
heard the cry of the manufacturers for more and more 
protection. Convinced that the South's interests were 
endangered, and realizing that they were in the minority, 
he sought the protection of the Constitution for his sec- 
tion, and became thenceforth the leader of the State rights 
party. He was Vice President 1825-1832, but resigned 
the latter year to become senator from South Carolina, 
so as to be in a position to defend nullification in Con- 
gress. In 1844, he was appointed Secretary of State by 
T}der. He favored the annexation of Texas, and nego- 



xxvi INTRODUCTION 

tiated the treaty which failed of ratification by the Senate. 
He opposed the Mexican War, foreseeing that it would 
revive the dispute about slavery in the territories. In 
1845, Calhoun was returned to the Senate, there to remain 
till his death, fighting for the rights of his section as he 
saw them involved in the preservation of an institution 
doomed to destruction by the progress of his age. There 
is little doubt that he understood the political conditions 
of his time better than any one else, and that he saw 
more clearly than any one else what must be the ultimate 
result of political forces at play. The tragedy of the situa- 
tion was that he, a champion of freedom and a great lover 
of the Union, was defending an institution utterly at 
variance with a free government and advocating a plan 
that would have disrupted the Union, despite his wish to 
the contrary. His last great speech, read in the Senate 
by his friend Mr. Mason of Virginia, was a masterly analysis 
of conditions and causes, but it failed to offer a practicable 
way of escape from the alarming state of affairs and has 
in it the note of defeat. It was not Calhoun's greatest 
speech. That had been made in 1833, when he was 
arguing for State rights as a principle of government and 
not as a means of protecting a decaying social institution. 
As an orator Mr. Calhoun possessed a clear, simple 
style. He aimed at being understood, and appealed to 
reason rather than to the emotions. He was too analytical 
in method of treatment to be a popular speaker, and 
framed his thoughts for minds of the senatorial order. He 
is South Carolina's greatest son, and takes rank with 
Jefferson and Madison as one of the South 's great 
political thinkers. 



IN TROD UCTION xx v 11 

george Mcduffie 

The place and date of George McDuffie's birth are 
obscure, but he was probably born in Columbia County, 
Georgia, 1788. He was educated at the Waddell Boys' 
School, Abbeville County, South Carolina, and at South 
Carolina College. He graduated from the latter institu- 
tion in 1813 with first honors. "His graduating speech, 
on the 'Permanence of the Union/ was published at the 
request of the students. It was of this man that Judge 
Huger remarked, that if South Carolina College had pro- 
duced only George McDuffie, she would have amply re- 
paid the State for all its expenditure for her support." 
He began the practice of law in 1814, and after some 
adversities secured a large practice. After serving, with 
distinction, one term in the State legislature, he was sent 
to represent his district in Congress. Here he remained 
thirteen years, resigning in 1834 to become governor of 
South Carolina. His career in Congress was marked by 
his fight for the principle of State sovereignty in the 
Union and by his opposition to the protective tariff. His 
views on the tariff were so widely accepted throughout the 
South that Burgess calls him the "political economist" of 
the slavery regime, as Calhoun was its "political scientist." 

At the expiration of his term as governor, Mr. McDume 
retired from public life till 1842, when he opposed and 
defeated William C. Preston for the United States sena- 
torship. On account of failing health he resigned this 
office in 1846. Five years later he died of a spinal trouble 
caused by a wound received in a duel fought during 
the early part of his career in Congress. 



xxvm INTRODUCTION 

As an orator Mr. McDuffie was clear, forceful, and con- 
vincing. "Few equaled him in the ability to persuade 
the masses." His sentence structure and composition 
are excellent, and his speeches read well. William C. 
Preston, himself a paragon of Southern eloquence, "de- 
clared that he fulfilled his idea and conception of Demos- 
thenes more than any one he had ever heard." Among 
his best speeches are his speech on the power of the execu- 
tive (1834), another on the election of the President and 
Vice President of the United States (1826), and his eulogy 
on R. Y. Hayne (1840). The two latter have been edited 
by Professor E. L. Green (South Carolina University) 
and published by The State Company. A short bio- 
graphical notice, from which I have obtained the facts 
for this sketch, accompanies the selections. 

SERGEANT SMITH PRENTISS 

Sergeant S. Prentiss was born in Maine, 1808. After a 
good preparatory training, he entered Bowdoin College, 
and in 1826 received from the institution the Bachelor's 
degree, and three years later the degree of Master of Arts. 
He studied law in a private office at Gorham, Maine, and 
later for a year in Ohio. By 1829 he had moved to Natchez, 
Mississippi, and begun practice. He was a member of the 
State legislature, 1835, and in 1837 ran for Congress. 
The certificate of election was given to his opponent, but 
Prentiss contested the result, and defended his claim be- 
fore the House of Representatives in one of the most bril- 
liant speeches ever delivered before that body. He spoke 
three hours a day for three days in succession, and it is 
said that his eloquence attracted such attention that the 



INTRODUCTION xxix 

Senate chamber was practically empty during his speech. 
Webster is reported to have said that the effort could 
not have been surpassed. The House, by the deciding 
vote of the Speaker, James K. Polk, declared the seat 
vacant, and in the second election Prentiss was chosen. 
He served for only one term. In 1840, he was a promi- 
nent Whig speaker in the presidential campaign. Dis- 
gusted with his State because it had repudiated a bonded 
debt, he moved in 1845 to New Orleans, where he remained 
till a short time before his death. He died July, 1850. 
A correct estimate of this remarkable man is difficult to 
make. Without question he possessed unusual oratorical 
gifts, but he was Byronic in temperament and lacked 
constructive ability. If he had* fixed his heart with a 
determined will upon some great moral purpose, his 
genius would have made him one of our great leaders. 
Very few of his speeches were written out beforehand, 
and as no stenographic reports were kept in that day, 
his wonderful powers as an orator are largely a matter 
of tradition. He seems to have had an unusual fluency 
and ease of expression, a most vivid imagination, and a 
memory that enabled him to call with unfailing certainty 
upon a storehouse of facts and thoughts gleaned from a 
wide acquaintance with literature. 

THOMAS HART BENTON 

Thomas H. Benton was born at Hillsborough, North 
Carolina, 1782. He took a short course at the University 
of North Carolina, but soon withdrew and moved to 
Tennessee, Here he practiced law for several vears. 



xxx INTRODUCTION 

The War of 1812 corning on, he joined Jackson's forces, 
and by the close of the war was a colonel of volunteers. 
Resigning his commission, he moved to Missouri and 
established The Inquirer, a proslavery paper, at St. 
Louis. He was a vigorous advocate of the Missouri 
Compromise, and when the State was admitted, 1821, 
was one of her first senators. For the next thirty years 
he held this office, and, before his term of service expired, 
had become, along with Clay, Calhoun, and Webster, one 
of the leaders in the United States Senate. He was a 
Westerner in spirit, and national in his views of the gov- 
ernment of the United States. During Jackson's adminis- 
trations, Benton was his stanchest friend in the Senate. 
His firm belief in gold and silver currency in preference 
to the paper issues of that period, won for him the nick- 
name "Old Bullion." Despite his conspicuous service 
to his State and section, he was defeated for the senator- 
ship, 1851. The following year he was sent as a repre- 
sentative to Congress, but retained this office only one 
term. Immediately after this second defeat, he set to 
work to finish his "Thirty Years' View" — a history of 
our government from 1820 to 1850. This being com- 
pleted, he began the "Abridgment of the Debates of Con- 
gress from 1787 to 1856." He brought this work down 
to 1850, but, broken in health by the labor of it, died 
before he could finish the undertaking, April, 1858. His 
speeches show wide reading and research, but are lack- 
ing in simplicity and finish. 

In speaking of his later period in Congress, Roosevelt, 
his biographer, says : "His speeches were showing a steady 
improvement; they were not masterpieces, even at the 



INTRODUCTION xxxi 

last, but in every way, especially in style, they were in- 
finitely superior to those that he had made on his first 
entrance into public life." The same author considers his 
speech against the Kansas-Nebraska Bill, 1854, "his great 
speech, and one of the best and greatest that he ever 
made." 

JAMES KNOX POLK 

The only President who is given a place in our collec- 
tion of Southern orators is James Knox Polk. He was 
born in North Carolina, in 1795. When eleven years old 
he moved with his father to Tennessee. He returned to 
his native State for his education, and was graduated 
with first honor at Chapel Hill, North Carolina, 1818. 
After studying law for two years under Felix Grundy, a 
lawyer and speaker of prominence, he began practicing 
at Columbia, Tennessee. He was elected to the United 
States House of Representatives in 1825, and held this posi- 
tion for fourteen successive years. During his membership 
he was on a number of important committees, and from 
1835 to 1839 was Speaker of the House. In 1839 he was 
elected governor of Tennessee, and stood for reelection in 
1841 and in 1843, but was defeated. The Democrats 
chose him as their presidential nominee in 1844, and he 
was elected over his brilliant Whig opponent, Henry 
Clay. His platform was the " reannexation of Texas 
and the reoccupation of Oregon," and during his ad- 
ministration the Oregon Territory was acquired per- 
manently, and Texas was admitted. War with Mexico 
resulted from the annexation of Texas, and at the con- 
clusion of the war we acquired a vast tract of territorv 



xxxn INTRODUCTION 

from Mexico. Polk's administration was one of the most 
far-reaching in its results of any of our presidential terms. 
He died in 1849, soon after retiring from office. 

As an orator Mr. Polk was simple and direct. He 
lacked imagination- and figurative expression, but was 
always extremely clear and logical. The title " Napoleon 
of the Stump/' given to him by his admirers in Tennessee, 
seems to me extravagant. Among his best printed 
speeches are his speech on the tariff, delivered in the 
House of Representatives, 1834, and his inaugurals, 
when he became governor of Tennessee, and when he 
was inaugurated President. 

WILLIAM CAMPBELL PRESTON 

William C. Preston was born in Philadelphia, Penn- 
sylvania, 1794, during a session of Congress, of which his 
father, a representative from Virginia, was a member. 
He entered Washington College (now Washington and 
Lee University) for his collegiate training, but finding 
the climate there too severe for his weak lungs, moved 
to South Carolina College, Columbia. He graduated at 
this institution in 1812, and soon afterwards began the 
study of law in the office of William Wirt, Richmond, 
Virginia. He spent some years abroad for his health, 
and for study and culture, before beginning the practice 
of lav/ in Virginia, 1820. Two years later he moved to 
South Carolina. He was a member of the Soi '>>» Carolina 
legislature, 1829-1832. He was elected to the United 
States Senate, 1836, and was reelected for a second term, 
but resigned 1842, because he was unwilling to support 



INTRODUCTION xxxill 

Van Buren's candidacy for reelection, as South Carolina 
had done. In 1845, he was made president and professor 
of English literature of South Carolina College, and con- 
tinued in this position till 1851. Charles F. Thwing 
says of him ("Higher Education in America," p. 243): 
"An excellent classical scholar for his time and the most 
eloquent orator that the South, ever conspicuous for its 
sons of eloquent speech, has had, his brief career as presi- 
dent was most brilliant." He died at Columbia, 1860. 
Mr. Preston's style of oratory was ornate, and his care- 
fully prepared productions contain frequent quotations 
from the classics and modern literature. His powers of 
elocution were marvelous. It is said that once while 
reciting Campbell's " Hohenlinden " to a class in literature, 
the members were so impressed that they were literally 
swept from their seats, and at the conclusion of the recita- 
tion all the class were standing around their teacher. 
Another anecdote, somewhat humorous in character, 
illustrates the same point. On an occasion when Mr. 
Preston was speaking at a large political meeting near 
Baltimore, an elderly member of the audience, who was 
hard of hearing, exclaimed to a near-by friend, with more 
of enthusiasm than grammatical accuracy: "I can't 
hear him ! But, Great Jericho ! don't he do the move- 
ments splendid ! " 

HENRY CLAY 

Henry Hyy, one of the .leading figures in our country 
between 1810 and 1850, was born in a district known as 
"The Slashes," in Hanover County, Virginia. Left at 
an early age to make his own way, he attracted the atten- 



xxxi v INTRODUCTION 

tion of some prominent men in Richmond, Virginia, who 
helped him to improve his education and to study law. 
Upon being admitted to the bar in 1797, he moved to 
Kentucky, w T here he had his home during the remainder 
of his life. He soon rose to prominence in his State, and 
in 1806, and again in 1809, was appointed to fill out an 
unexpired term in the United States Senate. In 1811 
he was elected to the House of Representatives. Except 
for his term as Secretary of State under Adams, and 
two other short intermissions, he spent his remaining 
forty-one years in Congress, as a member of either the 
Lower or t Upper House. He was elected Speaker when he 
first entered the House, and served, all together, as Speaker 
of six Congresses. In the Senate, he was always a leader, 
taking rank along with Calhoun and Webster. He was 
a presidential candidate three times, twice as the nominee 
of the Whig party, which he founded and led till his death. 
He was the author of the "American System" of taxation 
for protection, of the Compromise Tariff Bill, 1833, and 
of the famous Compromise of 1850, by which he tried to 
settle amicably the dispute between the North and South 
over slavery. 

Among his many notable speeches, the one on the 
Compromise of 1850, and his farewell to the Senate, 1842, 
are probably best known. He was a captivating speaker, 
brilliant at times, but lacking in comprehensiveness of 
details and literary finish. He was the greatest parlia- 
mentary leader our country has produced, and possessed a 
personal magnetism that seemed to cast a spell over those 
who came under his influence. I have been told that 
on one occasion a prominent Virginia judge, disgusted 



INTROD UCTION xxx V 

that the two senators from his State were, as it seemed 
to him, being led around by the nose by Clay, went 
to Washington to remonstrate with them and advise that 
they assert their independence. It turned out that Clay 
was to speak the night after the judge's arrival, and the 
senators invited their friend to go to hear him. Before 
the speaking began, one of the senators called Clay to 
come and meet their friend. The judge related afterward 
that he was so impressed by the princely carriage and air 
of greatness about the man as he strode down the aisle, 
that immediately after the meeting he turned to his 
senator friends and remarked that he did not blame 
them for being led by Clay, as he was the most magnetic 
man he had ever seen. 

ALEXANDER HAMILTON STEPHENS 

Alexander H. Stephens was born in Georgia, 1812. 
He was early left an orphan, and secured an education 
with difficulty, but by 1832 was graduated from Franklin 
College (University of Georgia). After teaching school 
for a few years, he studied law and was admitted to 
practice. He soon entered politics, and between 1836 
and 1843 served several terms in the State legislature. 
The latter year he was elected a representative in Congress, 
which position he held till his resignation, 1859. Stephens 
was a Whig during his early career, but after the disap- 
pearance of this party, the changing political conditions 
forced him to become a Democrat. He believed in 
secession as a constitutional right, but opposed it as in- 
expedient till his State withdrew, when he joined the 



xxxvi INTRODUCTION 

Confederate government. He was elected Vice President 
of the Confederacy, and held this office during the life of 
the ill-fated government. He headed a peace movement 
during the last years of the war, and was the leading 
member of the unsuccessful Confederate peace commission 
that met Federal representatives at Hampton Roads, 
February, 1865. After the war, he was imprisoned for 
several months at Boston, Massachusetts. In 1866 he 
was elected to the United States Senate, but was refused 
a seat, as Georgia had not been restored to the Union. 
After the State's restoration he was twice a candidate for 
this office,* but each time was defeated. From 1873 to 
1882 he was a representative in Congress, and, while 
defending Southern rights, worked to reunite his country. 
In 1882 he was elected governor of Georgia, but died in 
Atlanta, a year later, before serving out his term. 
Stephens's bold, independent spirit as a public leader 
led him into a number of difficulties, personal and political. 
Except for a short time during their disagreement on the 
question of secession, he and Toombs were fast friends 
throughout their lives. He and Ben H. Hill, another 
great Georgian, were often in bitter quarrels. He chal- 
lenged Hill, and, at different times during his career, 
several other men, to duels, but none of his challenges 
were accepted. Though lacking in any of the physical 
gifts of an orator, his keen intellect and thorough grasp 
of facts and conditions made him a very effective speaker. 
Toombs referred to him on one occasion as "one of the 
brightest intellects and purest patriots" of his time. A 
contemporary newspaper reporter, in describing him, 
writes: "How invincible is the soul that dwells in his 



INTROD UCTION xxx v i i 

shrunken and aching frame." He was the author of a 
"History of the United States," and of "The War Be- 
tween the States. " His greatest speeches are the oration 
delivered at the celebration of the one hundred and 
fiftieth anniversary of the settlement of Georgia, his 
speech at the unveiling of Carpenter's painting "The 
First Reading of the Emancipation Proclamation," the 
"Corner Stone" speech delivered at Savannah, 1861, 
and his oration before the Georgia legislature, at Mil- 
ledge ville, 1861, on "The Present State of Affairs." 

JOHN CABELL BRECKINRIDGE 

John C. Breckinridge was born in Lexington, Kentucky, 
1821. He came of distinguished ancestry. After re- 
ceiving his academic education at Centre College, Ken- 
tucky, he studied law, and at the early age of nineteen 
began the practice of his p&rfession. He soon became 
one of the leading lawyers of his State. The Mexican 
War coming on, he enlisted, but had little opportunity for 
service. His political career began by his election to 
the Kentucky legislature, 1849. Two years later he was 
sent as a representative to Congress, where he " served 
two terms. President Pierce offered him the mission to 
Spain, but he declined the office. In 1856 he was elected 
Vice President under Buchanan. "Although the youngest 
officer who has ever held that position, he presided over 
the Senate with dignity and impartiality." While still 
Vice President, he was elected to the United States Senate 
by Kentucky, and in 1860 was the candidate of the Southern 
wing of the Democratic party for the presidency. 

When the war broke out, he was made brigadier-general 



xxxviii INTRODUCTION 

in the Southern army. In the early years of the war, 
he did conspicuous service in the Southwest, and after 
the battle of Shiloh was promoted major general. He 
distinguished himself at the battles of Murfreesboro, 
Chickamauga, and Missionary Ridge. During 1864, he 
served with Lee in Virginia. In March, 1865, he was 
appointed Secretary of War by President Davis, and held 
the office till the end of the war. After the surrender 
at Appomattox, he escaped to Cuba, then to Europe, 
and later to Canada. From 1868 till his death, in 1875, 
he practiced law at Lexington, Kentucky. 

JOHN BELL 

During the period of Andrew Jackson's leadership in 
national politics, the State of Tennessee furnished a num- 
ber of prominent men. Among them were Jackson him- 
self, James K. Polk, Felix Grundy, and John Bell. Mr. 
Bell was probably the ablest of the four. He was born 
in Tennessee in 1797. After securing a college education, 
he. studied law. By 1820 he was established in Nashville, 
with a good practice. Six years later he was elected to 
represent his district in Congress, over Felix Grundy, 
Jackson's favorite in the race. He held his seat for fourteen 
successive years, and became a leader in national legis- 
lation. In 1834 he was elected Speaker of the House 
in a contest with his colleague, James K. Polk. He 
opposed protection and President Jackson's attack on 
the United States Bank, but defended the rights of the 
slaveholders in the territories. President Harrison ap- 
pointed him Secretary of War in 1841, but he resigned 
soon after Tjder succeeded to the presidency. He was 



INTRODUCTION xxxix 

elected by Tennessee to the United States Senate in 1847, 
and served two terms. In 1860 he headed the Constitu- 
tion and Union ticket in the presidential election, but 
carried only a few States. He opposed secession till the 
Northern States adopted a policy of coercion, when he 
sided with the South. He died in Tennessee, September, 
1869. Mr. Bell was a conservative in temperament and 
a compromiser by principle. His greatest speech is the 
one on the Kansas-Nebraska Bill (1854), from which I 
have made a selection. As a speaker he was effective 
and instructive, rather than brilliant. 

SAMUEL HOUSTON 

Samuel Houston led a romantic career. He was born 
near Lexington, Virginia, 1793, and died in Texas, 1863. 
After his father's death, 1806, the family moved to Ten- 
nessee. His only educational opportunities were one 
session spent at Maryville Academy. In 1810 he left 
home, andjfor three years lived with the Cherokee Ind- 
ians. He served in the United States army during the 
Mexican War, and, after the war, with Andrew Jack- 
son in his campaign against the Creeks. Afterward he 
studied law, and began practice at Lebanon, Tennessee. 
He was a representative in Congress from 1823 to 1827, 
when he was elected governor of Tennessee. Two years 
later, while governor, he was married to Miss Allen, but 
soon afterward, without any explanation, left his wife, re- 
signed his office, and went again to live with the Cherokees. 
While representing his Indian friends at Washington, 
1832, he got into a difficulty with Representative Stanbury 
of Ohio, which brought him again before the public. 



xl INTRODUCTION 

Houston's physical courage was unquestioned. He 
fought a duel during his first service in Congress, and 
during his campaign with Jackson distinguished himself 
for bravery. In 1832 he moved to Texas, and became a 
leader in founding the Texan Republic. He was com- 
mander in chief of the Texan forces, and won the decisive 
victory of San Jacinto. The grateful people elected him 
.their first President. He served another term, 1841-1844, 
and managed the negotiations with the United States 
concerning the annexation of Texas by this country. 
After annexation he was elected to the United States 
Senate, and served till 1859, when he failed of reelection. 
He was governor of the State, 1859-1861, but opposed 
secession, and was forced out of office when the State 
seceded. 

Though wanting in the educational training necessary 
for excellence in oratory, Houston was a popular speaker 
of great effectiveness, and at times displayed real eloquence. 
He has been compared with Daniel O'Connell, the great 
Irish orator. 

HENRY WASHINGTON HILLIARD 

Henry Washington Hilliard was born in Fayetteville, 
North Carolina, in 1808. He was educated at South 
Carolina University, and studied law privately, after the 
custom of the times, under Judge Clayton, Athens, Georgia. 
He practiced law in Georgia and Alabama, served for 
three years as a professor in the University of Alabama, 
and occasionally as a lay preacher in the Methodist Church. 
From 1842-1844 he was charge d'affaires at Belgium, and 
from 1845-1851 a member from Alabama in the United 



INTRODUCTION xli 

States House of Representatives. He belonged to the 
conservative party in the South that opposed secession, 
but when his State withdrew from the Union, went with 
her, joined the army, and was made brigadier general. 
In 1876 he was a candidate for Congress, but was defeated. 
The following year he was appointed Minister to Brazil, 
and remained at this post for four years. He died in 
Atlanta, 1892. Mr. Hilliard belonged to the classical 
school of Southern orators, who laid a great deal of stress 
on the literary finish and the manner of delivery of their 
orations. In his style of elocution he was a disciple of 
William C. Preston, and to perfect his manner is said to 
have practiced before a mirror. He was an occasional 
lecturer, and a writer of ability and attractiveness. 

HENRY ALEXANDER WISE 

"A prominent figure in Virginia history for nearly 
fifty years was Henry Alexander Wise," born in Virginia 
in 1806. He was well educated, receiving a good high 
school training, and graduating from Washington and Lee 
University. He was elected to Congress in 1833, and 
remained a member of that body for eleven years. In 
the contest over 'abolition that occurred in Congress at 
this time, he took a prominent part. For three years, 
1844-1847, he was Minister to Brazil. Mr. Tyler appointed 
him Minister to France, but the Senate refused to confirm 
the nomination. Mr. Wise was a member of the Virginia 
Constitutional Convention in 1850-1851. "When the 
question of giving the West more representation in the 
legislature came up, Wise spoke for five days advocating 
their claims, and it is said that though the great Shake- 



xlii INTRODUCTION 

spearean actor, Booth, was playing Hamlet at the theater, 
Wise's dramatic speech drew a larger audience." In 
1836 Wise won the greatest political victory of his life 
when he defeated, by a majority of ten thousand, the 
candidate of the Know-nothing party in a race for the 
governorship of Virginia. Some of his most brilliant 
speeches were made at that time. Wise at first opposed 
secession, but when war began advised his State to secede, 
and himself became a brigadier general in Lee's army. 
After the war was over, he refused to take the oath of 
allegiance to the United States, so never became a citizen 
again of his country. He practiced law in Richmond 
till his death, in 1876. His oratory was of the fiery, 
ready kind that attracts and enthuses the crowds. 

JABEZ LAMAR MONROE CURRY 

Jabez L. M. Curry was born in Georgia, 1825. His 
father moved to Alabama a few years later, and here the 
boy grew to manhood. He graduated at the University 
of Georgia and the Harvard Law School. Returning to 
Alabama, he served three terms in the State legislature. 
In 1857 he was elected a representative in Congress and 
served two terms. He was a member of the Confederate 
Congress. In 1864 he entered the army as an aid to 
Joseph E. Johnstone. After the war he entered the 
Baptist ministry, but soon took up educational work. 
From 1866-1868 he was president of Howard College, 
Alabama, and from 1868 to 1881 a professor at Richmond 
College, Virginia. He resigned this position to become 
general agent for the Peabody Education Fund. In 1885, 
he gave up this work, for the time being, to accept the 



INTRODUCTION xliii 

position of American Minister to Spain. Three years later 
he was in America again, and had resumed his duties as 
agent of the Peabody Fund. In 1891 he also became man- 
ager of the Slater Fund for Education. He remained at 
this work till his death, 1903. His greatest service was 
done in arousing an interest in public schools in the South 
and in using the Peabody funds to further this purpose. 
The State of Alabama has provided a beautiful marble 
statue of him to be placed in the statuary hall of the 
Capitol, at Washington. An excellent appreciation of 
his life and services to his country is to be found in an 
address (itself worthy of a conspicuous place in any 
collection of recent Southern oratory) delivered by Dr. 
Edwin A. Alderman, before the Conference for Education 
in the South, at Richmond, Virginia, 1903. 

WILLIAM LOWNDES YANCEY 

William L. Yancey was born in Georgia, 1814, and died 
in Alabama, 1863. After spending a year at Williams 
College, he studied law, and at twenty was a practicing 
lawyer at Greenville, South Carolina. He moved to 
Alabama in 1836, continued the practice of law and 
engaged in journalistic work, and soon became a leader in 
the politics of the State. After serving in both houses 
of the State legislature, he was sent as a representative 
to Congress in 1844, and was elected for another term, 
but resigned after a year. His term in Congress was 
signalized by his reply to Clingman of North Carolina, 
who opposed the annexation of Texas. Yancey was the 
spokesman of his Southern colleagues, and his scathing 
reply so incensed Clingman that the customary challenge 



xliv INTROD UCTI ON 

and duel followed, but without serious results. After his 
withdrawal from Congress, Yancey became the leader of 
the extreme Southern party in the Lower South. He 
was the author of the " Alabama platform of 1848," 
pronouncing in favor of congressional protection of slavery 
in the territories. When the Democratic convention of 
1848 refused to adopt the slavery provision of this plat- 
form, he withdrew from the convention, and, from that 
time on, advocated secession. He bitterly opposed the 
Compromises of 1850, and thought the Southern states 
ought to secede then. He also opposed the Kansas- 
Nebraska Bill, 1854. His greatest triumph was won in 
1860 at the National Democratic convention which met in 
Charleston, South Carolina. His speech before the conven- 
tion on the adoption of the platform was epoch making. 
It resulted immediately in the split in the Democratic 
party which ended in the election of Lincoln and the seces- 
sion of the Southern States. When the Confederacy was 
organized, Mr. Yancey with other commissioners was sent 
to Europe for the purpose of securing recognition of the 
new government. Failing to accomplish anything, he 
returned to Alabama and was sent to the Confederate 
Senate, where he remained till his death. In describing 
his end, Mr. W. G. Brown ("Lower South in American 
History") says: "In the summer of 1863, he went home 
to die." "But his passing was little marked. The 
orators had given place to the captains. His people were 
working out in blood and fire the destiny up to which he 
had led them." Yancey's strength as a speaker lay in 
his directness and fluency of speech, his remarkable clear- 
ness of presentation, his evident sincerity and earnestness, 



INTRODUCTION xlv 

and, above all, in his wonderful voice — "the most perfect 
voice." "Chief Justice Stone, a jurist not unknown to 
lawyers of the present day, once said : ' I first heard Mr. 
Yancey in 1840. I thought then, and I yet think, he was 
the greatest orator I ever heard.'" (Brown.) 

LOUIS TREZEVANT WIGFALL 

Louis Trezevant Wigfall was born in South Carolina 
in 1816. He attended South Carolina University for a 
while before going to the University of Virginia to begin 
the study of law. He practiced his profession in Texas. 
Here he represented his county in both the upper and 
the lower houses of the State legislature. In 1861 he 
served three months in the United States Senate, with- 
drawing after the secession of Texas. During the first 
year of the war he was in the Confederate army, and 
rose rapidly to the position of brigadier general. He 
represented Texas in the Provisional Confederate Con- 
gress till elected senator, which office he held during the 
life of the Confederacy. After the war he resided for 
some years in London. In 1873 he returned to America, 
and died the following year while on a lecturing tour in 
Texas. His speeches impress me as the productions of a 
man of ability and literary culture; but they lack the 
spirit of earnest purpose. 

ROBERT TOOMBS 

Robert Toombs was born in Georgia, July, 1810. His 
preparatory training was excellent, and he did collegiate 
work at the University of Georgia and at Union College, 
New York. A course in law was taken at the University 



xlvi INTRODUCTION 

of Virginia, and he was admitted to practice in 1830. 
He soon became popular as a speaker, and was sent to 
the State legislature for two terms. He was a Repre- 
sentative in the Lower House of Congress, 1845-1853, 
and United States senator, 1853-1860. During this 
time he was a leading advocate of State rights, and par- 
ticularly the right of the Southern slave owners to carry 
their slaves into the territories. After a farewell address, 
he withdrew from the Senate, January, 1861. He was a 
member of the Georgia Secession Convention and of the 
provisional Confederate Congress. He was talked of for 
the presidency of the Confederacy, and after Davis's elec- 
tion was appointed Secretary of State. Impatient under 
the routine of office work, he resigned his secretaryship, 
July, 1861, and entered the army as a brigadier general. 
He was present at a number of battles — Malvern Hill, 
Second Manassas, Sharpsburg, being among them. He 
was mentioned for special service in the last of these 
battles, but, failing of promotion, resigned, feeling that 
President Davis did not give him due recognition. Enter- 
ing the Georgia militia, he served with the State troops 
till the conclusion of the war. Fearing arrest, along with 
Davis, Stephens, and other leaders in forming the Con- 
federacy, he escaped to Europe, where he remained till 
1867. From this time till his death, 1885, he practiced 
law at Washington, Georgia. His success as an advocate 
was so great that he amassed quite a fortune. A mas- 
terful manner of delivery that overrode opposition, a 
directness and ruggedness of expression, lit up at times 
by sparks of imagination, were characteristics of his 
oratory. His greatest oratorical triumph was won 



INTRODUCTION xlvii 

during the contest for the speakership of the House of 
Representatives, December, 1849. On December 21, in 
the face of an almost riotous House, constantly yelling 
" Order!" he persisted to speak against a rule forbidding 
debate till after the organization of the House, until he 
quieted the members and delivered his speech without 
interruption. 

JEFFERSON DAVIS 

The "only President" of the Southern Confederacy 
was born in Kentucky, 1808. He was educated at the 
United States Military Academy, West Point, New York. 
After graduation he served in the regular army till 1835, 
when he married a daughter of General Zachary Taylor 
and settled in Mississippi. In 1845 he was sent as a rep- 
resentative to Congress, but resigned within a year to 
fight in the Mexican War. He won distinction in the 
war, particularly in the battles of Monterey and Buena 
Vista. In 1847 he was appointed to the United States 
Senate, where he soon became a leader among the Southern 
statesmen. Resigning from the Senate in 1851, he be- 
came a candidate for governor of Mississippi, but was 
defeated. The following year he was made Secretary of 
War in President Pierce's cabinet. In this office he 
showed unusual administrative ability. At the close of 
his administration, he was returned to the United States 
Senate. Here he remained till 1861, representing the rights 
and interests of his section. When the Confederacjr was 
organized, he was elected its President. Though sub- 
jected to much harsh criticism during the course of the 
war, for defeats for which he was held responsible, later 



xlviii INTRODUCTION 

generations are agreed that few could have reaped more 
success with the materials he had at hand to meet so 
strong a foe. His capture at the close of the war and 
close confinement, in chains, for two years at Fortress 
Monroe, made him a martyr to the Southern cause and 
restored him to the affections of his people. The closing 
years of his life were spent in writing "The Rise and 
Fall of the Confederacy." 

As an orator, Mr. Davis . was clear, logical, and con- 
vincing. His style has been described as "orderly rather 
than ornate." His "Farewell to the Senate," "Inaugural 
Address," and "Speech on Resolutions Relative to State 
Rights" (May 16 and 17, 1860), are among his best 
orations. 

JUDAH PHILIP BENJAMIN 

Judah P. Benjamin was born in the West India Islands, 
1811. He was of Jewish parentage. His early life was 
spent at New Orleans, Louisiana, and Wilmington, North 
Carolina. He studied at Yale for three years, and then 
read law at New Orleans, where he began practice, 1834. 
He was a successful lawyer. After taking some interest 
in State politics, he was sent in 1853 to the United States 
Senate. Here he remained till Louisiana withdrew from 
the Union. He was in turn Attorney-general, Secretary 
of War and Secretary of State, of the government of the 
Confederate States. At the close of the war, he fled to 
England, where he studied English law, and in 1867 was 
admitted to practice. He met with great success, and 
before his death had acquired a considerable fortune. In 
1872 he was promoted Queen's counsel, and during his 



INTRODUCTION xlix 

last years confined his pleadings to cases heard by the 
House of Lords and the Privy Council. He died in Paris, 
1883. Clearness of statement, cogency of argument, and 
beauty of expression are the chief characteristics of his 
speeches. In describing his oratory in the United States 
Senate, Mr. Pierce Butler, Benj amines biographer, says : 
"Let any one who can, regardless of political opinions, 
be roused to a genuine feeling for the mere grace of ex- 
pression, dazzling brilliance of reasoning, and withering 
force of sarcasm; let any one, in short, who has a love 
for style and an interest in forensics, read this splendid 
series of orations, and then formulate a judicious estimate 
of Benjamin as an orator and expounder of the political 
principles in which the South believed. Such an one, I 
am assured, would find it difficult to express himself in 
measured terms." 

LUCIUS QUINTUS CINCINNATUS LAMAR 

Twice professor in a university, colonel in the Confeder- 
ate army, representative in the Lower House of Congress 
for eight years and member of the Senate for the same 
length of time, a cabinet officer, and an associate justice 
of the Supreme Court — such is a list of the titles enjoyed, 
and positions of prominence filled, by L. Q. C. Lamar, Jr. 
He was born in Georgia in 1825. He studied and prac- 
ticed law from 1845-1850. During the next two years, 
he was adjunct professor of mathematics at the Uni- 
versity of Mississippi. He was in Congress from 1857- 
1861. The Civil War coming on, he entered the service 
and soon became colonel. In 1863 he was sent on a 
diplomatic mission to Europe. Returning from this 



1 INTRODUCTION 

service, he became judge advocate in General Longstreet's 
corps. The war having closed, he returned to the Uni- 
versity of Mississippi and taught for four years. From 
1873-1877, he was a representative in Congress, and from 
1877-1885 a member of the Senate. He resigned from 
the Senate to enter President Cleveland's cabinet as Sec- 
retary of the Interior. In 1888 he was made associate 
justice of the Supreme Court, which position he occupied 
till his death in 1893. His best-known speech is his 
eulogy on Charles Sumner. It is a good example of the 
ease and gracefulness of Southern oratory. 

BENJAMIN HARVEY HILL 

Benjamin H. Hill was born in Georgia, 1823. His 
education was secured at the University of Georgia, from 
which he was graduated in 1844, with highest honors. 
Admitted to the bar in 1845, he practiced in La Grange, 
Georgia. He soon entered politics, first as a Whig and 
later as a member of the American party. In 1854 he 
was defeated for Congress, and in 1857 was defeated in a 
race for the governorship of Georgia. He opposed seces- 
sion, but yielded to the majority when his State with- 
drew from the Union. He served in the Confederate 
Senate, and after the war was imprisoned for two months 
by the Federal government. In 1875 he was elected a 
representative to Congress, but after two years of service 
in the House, resigned to take a seat in the Senate. Here 
his ability as an orator and debater was conspicuous, and 
he soon became a leader in defending the views of the 
South. He was especially opposed to the reconstruction 
policy of the Republican party, and while in the House 



INTRODUCTION h 

frequently resisted its measures with strong speeches. 
Mr. Hill possessed the oratorical gift to a great degree, 
and deserves to rank high. He delivered a number of 
able speeches in the Senate, but probably his best is the 
one on the Republican Party and the Solid South, from 
which we have made an extract. He died in 1892. 

ZEBULON BAIRD VANCE 

Zebulon B. Vance was born in Buncombe County, North 
Carolina, 1830. He secured a year or two of collegiate 
training at Washington College, Tennessee, and at the Uni- 
versity of North Carolina. He studied law, and in 1852 
began to practice at Asheville, North Carolina. After 
serving in the State legislature he was elected to Con- 
gress and served as representative from 1858-1861. The 
war coming on, he entered the army, first as captain, 
but was later promoted to a colonelcy. In 1862 he was 
elected governor of North Carolina, and during the four 
years of his administration did invaluable service to the 
Confederate government in raising supplies for the army. 
Arrested at the close of the war, he was soon paroled. 
In 1870 he was elected to the United States Senate, but 
was refused a seat on account of political disabilities 
arising from his share in the war. In 1876 he led his 
State in throwing off "radical" rule, and was chosen 
governor. Two years later he was again elected United 
States Senator to be continued in that office till his death, 
in 1894. 

Mr. Vance possessed a number of the gifts that go to 
make up an orator. He had a firm grasp of essential 
truths and facts, a- ready wit, and a winning personality 



lii INTRODUCTION 

and presence. He probably ranked next to Lincoln 
among our great men in his store of homely anecdotes 
aptly told. Among his best productions should be men- 
tioned: "The Scattered Nation — A Lecture/' "The 
Duties of Defeat," an address delivered at the University 
of North Carolina, June, 1866, and his speech against the 
repeal of the Sherman Silver Purchase Act, delivered 
September 1, 1893. 

HENRY WOODFIN GRADY 

Henry W. Grady was born in Athens, Georgia, 1850, 
and died in Atlanta, 1889. He was educated at the 
University of Georgia and the University of Virginia. 
Immediately after his two years of postgraduate study 
at the latter institution, he entered journalistic work, 
which was to be his occupation till his untimely death. 
He served, at different times, as editor of several smaller 
newspapers, till 1880, when he became editor and part 
owner of the Atlanta Constitution. As editor of this 
paper, and in numerous public addresses, he did much 
to allay hostility between the North and the South. He 
was given the title of "National Pacificator." "The 
New South," delivered before the New England Society 
of New York (1886); "The South and Her Problems," 
delivered at Dallas, Texas (1888); "Against Centraliza- 
tion," an address before the University of Virginia Alumni 
Association (1889) ; and "The Position of the South on 
the Race Problem," an address made at Boston (1889), 
are his greatest speeches. Hon. Champ Clark, writing 
on Modern Eloquence, says that the oration on the " New 
South" is the greatest after-dinner speech delivered 



INTRODUCTION liii 

within the memory of living man. Humor and pathos 
mingled freely in Grady's orations. He was a great orator 
because he expressed for the people of the nation, as Web- 
ster did in his " Liberty and Union " speech (1832), thoughts 
and sentiments that were struggling for existence but had 
not yet been crystallized into definite spoken words. 



SOUTHERN ORATORS 

PATRICK HENRY 

The "Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death" Speech 

No man thinks more highly than I do of the patriotism, 
as well as abilities, of the very worthy gentlemen who 
have just addressed the House. But different men often 
see the same subject in different lights; and, therefore, I 
hope it will not be thought disrespectful to those gentle- 5 
men, if, entertaining as I do opinions of a character very 
opposite to theirs, I shall speak forth my sentiments freely 
and without reserve. This is no time for ceremony. 

The question before the House is one of awful moment 
to this country. For my own part, I consider it as noth- 10 
ing less than a question of freedom or slavery; and in 
proportion to the magnitude of the subject ought to be 
the freedom of the debate. It is only in this way that we 
can hope to arrive at truth, and fulfill the great responsi- 
bility which we hold to God and our country. Should 15 
I keep back my opinions at such a time, through fear of 
giving offense, I should consider myself as guilty of treason 
toward my country, and of an act of disloyalty toward the 
Majesty of Heaven, which I revere above all earthly kings. 
Mr. President, it is natural to man to indulge in the 20 
illusion of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a 
b 1 



2 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

painful truth, and listen to the song of that siren, till she 
transforms us into beasts. Is this the part of wise men, 
engaged in a great and arduous struggle for liberty ? Are 
we disposed to be of the number of those, who, having eyes, 
5 see not, and having ears, hear not, the things that so nearly 
concern their temporal salvation? For my part, what- 
ever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the 
whole truth ; to know the worst, and to provide for it. 
I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided, and 

10 that is the lamp of experience. I know of no way of judg- 
ing of the future but by the past. And judging by the 
past, I wish to know what there has been in the conduct 
of the British ministry for the last ten years to justify those 
hopes with which gentlemen have been pleased to solace 

15 themselves and the House. Is it that insidious smile 
with which our petition has been lately received ? Trust 
it not, sir ; it will prove a snare to your feet. Suffer not 
yourselves to be betrayed with a kiss. Ask yourselves 
how this gracious reception of our petition comports with 

20 those warlike preparations which cover our waters and 
darken our land. Are fleets and armies necessary to a 
work of love and reconciliation? Have we shown our- 
selves so unwilling to be reconciled that force must be 
called in to win back our love? Let us not deceive our- 

25 selves, sir. These are the implements of war and subju- 
gation ; the last arguments to which kings resort. 

I ask gentlemen, sir, what means this martial array, if 
its purpose be not to force us to submission ? Can gentle- 
men assign any other possible motive for it ? Has Great 

3° Britain any enemy in this quarter of the world to call for 
all this accumulation of navies and armies? No, sir, she 



PATRICK HENRY 3 

has none. They are meant for us : they can be meant for 
no other. They are sent over to bind and rivet upon us 
those chains which the British ministry have been so long 
forging. And what have we to oppose to them? Shall 
we try argument ? Sir, we have been trying that for the 5 
last ten years. Have we anything new* to offer upon the 
subject? -Nothing. We have held the subject up in 
every light of which it is capable ; but it has been all in 
vain. 

Shall we resort to entreaty and humble supplication ? 10 
What 'terms shall we find which have not been already - 
exhausted? Let us not, I beseech you, sir, deceive our- 
selves longer. Sir, we have done everything that could 
be done, to avert the storm which is now coming on. We 
have petitioned; we have remonstrated; we have suppli- 15 
cated; we have prostrated ourselves before the throne, 
and have implored its interposition to arrest the tyrannical 
hand of the ministry and Parliament. Our petitions have 
been slighted; our remonstrances have produced addi- 
tional violence and insult; our supplications have been 20 
disregarded, and we have been spurned, with contempt, 
from the foot of the throne ! 

In vain, after these things, may we indulge the fond hope 
of peace and reconciliation. There is no longer any room 
for hope. If we wish to be free, — ■ if we mean to preserve 25 
inviolate those inestimable privileges for which we have 
been so long contending, — if we mean not basely to 
abandon the noble struggle in which we have been so long 
engaged, and which we have pledged ourselves never to 
abandon, until the glorious object of our contest shall be 3° 
obtained — we must fight ! I repeat it, sir, we must 



4 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

fight ! An appeal to arms and to the God of Hosts is all 
that is left us ! 

They tell us, sir, that we are weak — unable to cope 
with so formidable an adversary. But when shall we be 
5 stronger ? Will it be the next week, or the next year ? 
Will it be when 'we are totally disarmed, and when a 
British guard shall be stationed in every house? Shall 
we gather strength by irresolution and inaction? Shall 
we acquire the means of effectual resistance by lying su- 

iopinely on our backs and hugging the delusive phantom 
of hope, until our enemies shall have bound us hand and 
foot? 

Sir, we are not weak if we make a proper use of those 
means which the God of nature has placed in our power. 

15 Three millions of people armed in the holy cause of 
liberty, and in such a country as that which we possess, 
are invincible by any force which our enemy can send 
against us. Besides, sir, we shall not fight our battles 
alone. There is a just God who presides over the"destinies 

20 of nations, and who will raise up friends to fight our 
battles for us. The battle, sir, is not to the strong alone ; 
it is to the vigilant, the active, the brave. Besides, sir, 
we have no election. If we were base enough to desire it, 
it is now too late to retire from the contest. There is no 

25 retreat but in submission and slavery ! Our chains are 
forged ! Their clanking may be heard on the plains of 
Boston ! The war is inevitable — and let it come ! I re- 
peat it, sir, let it come ! 

It is vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may 

30 cry, Peace, peace — but there is no peace. The war is 
actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the 



PATRICK HENRY 5 

North will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms ! 
Our brethren are already in the field ! Why stand we 
here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? Is life so 
dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price 
of chains and slavery ? Forbid it, Almighty God ! 1 5 
know not what course others may take; but as for me, 
give me liberty or give me death ! 



JOHN RUTLEDGE 

Address before the South Carolina Colonial 
Assembly 

Honorable Gentlemen of the Legislative Council, Mr. Speaker, 
and Gentlemen of the General Assembly : . 
It has afforded me much satisfaction to observe that, 
though the season of the year rendered your sitting very 
inconvenient, your private concerns, which must have 
suffered greatly by your long and close application in the 
5 late Congress to the affairs of this colony, requiring your 
presence in the country, yet, continuing to prefer the 
public weal to ease and retirement, you have been busily 
engaged in framing such laws as our peculiar-circum- 
stances rendered absolutely necessary to be passed before 

10 your adjournment. Having given my assent to them, I 
presume you are now desirous of a recess. 

On my part a most solemn oath has been taken for the 
faithful discharge of my duty. On yours a solemn assur- 
ance has .been given to support me therein. Thus a pub- 

15 lie compact between us stands recorded. You may rest 
assured that I shall keep this oath ever in mind, — the 
Constitution shall be the invariable rule of my conduct; 
my ears shall always be open to the complaints of the 
injured; justice in mercy shall neither be denied or de- 

20 layed ; our laws and religion and the liberties of America 



JOHN RUTLEDGE 7 

shall be maintained and defended to the utmost of my 
power. I repose the most perfect confidence in your 
engagement. 

And now, Gentlemen, let me entreat that you will in 
your several parishes and districts use your influence and 5 
authority to keep peace and good order, strict observance 
of, and ready -obedience to, the law. If any persons therein 
are still strangers to the nature and merits of the dispute 
between Great Britain and the Colonies, you will explain 
it to them fully and teach them, if they are so unfor- 10 
tunate as not to know their inherent rights. Prove to 
them that the privileges of being tried by a jury of the 
vicinage acquainted with the parties and witnesses; of 
being taxed only with their own consent, given by their 
representatives freely chosen by and sharing the burden 15 
equally with themselves, not for the aggrandizing a ra- 
pacious minister and his dependent favorites and for cor- 
rupting the people and subverting their liberties, but for 
such wise and salutary purposes as they themselves ap- 
prove ; and of having their internal polity regulated only 20 
by laws consented to by competent judges of what is best 
adapted to their situation and circumstances, equally 
bound, too, by those laws, are inestimable and derived 
from that Constitution which is the birthright of the 
poorest man and the best inheritance of the most wealthy. 25 
Relate to them the various unjust and cruel statutes 
which the British Parliament, claiming a right to make 
laws binding the Colonies in all cases whatsoever, have 
enacted, and the many sanguinary measures which have 
been, and are daily, pursued and threatened to wrest from 3° 
them those invaluable benefits and to enforce such an un- 



8 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

limited and destructive claim. To the most illiterate it 
must appear that no power on earth can of right deprive 
them of the hardly earned fruits of their honest industry, 
toil, and labor. Even to them, the impious attempt to 
5 prevent many thousands from using the means of sub- 
sistence provided for man by the bounty of his Creator, 
and to compel them by famine to surrender their rights, 
will seem to call for divine vengeance. 

The endeavors by deceit and bribery to engage bar- 

iobarous nations to imbrue their hands in the innocent 
blood of helpless women and children, and the attempt 
by fair but false promises to make the ignorant domestics 
subservient to the most wicked purposes, are acts at 
which humanity must revolt. 

*5 Show your constituents, then, the indispensable neces- 
sity which there was for establishing some mode of gov- 
ernment in this Colony, the benefits of that which a full 
and free representation has established, and that the con- 
sent of the people is the origin, and their happiness the 

20 end, of government. Remove the apprehensions with 
which honest and well-meaning but weak and credulous 
minds may be alarmed, and prevent ill impressions by 
artful and designing enemies. Let it be known that this 
Constitution is but temporary — till an accommodation 

25 of the unhappy differences between Great Britain and 
America can be obtained, and that such an event is still 
desired by men who yet remember former friendships 
and intimate connections, though for defending their 
persons and properties they are stigmatized and treated 

30 as rebels. 

Truth being known will prevail over artifice and mis- 



JOHN RUTLEDGE 9 

representation. Conviction must follow its discovery. In 
such case no man who is worthy of life, liberty, or property 
will, or can, refuse to join with you in defending them to 
the last extremity. Disdaining every sordid view and 
the mean paltry considerations of private interest and 5 
present emolument when placed in competition with the 
liberties of millions, and seeing that there is no alternative 
but absolute unconditional submission and the most abject 
slavery, or a defense becoming men born to freedom, he 
will not hesitate about the choice. Although superior 10 
force may by the permission of Heaven lay waste our 
towns and ravage our country, it can never eradicate 
from the breasts of freemen those principles which are 
ingrafted in their very nature — such men will do their 
duty neither knowing or regarding consequences, but sub- 15 
mitting them with humble confidence to the Omniscient 
and Omnipotent Arbiter and Director of the fate of em- 
pires and trusting that His Almighty Arm, which has 
been so signally stretched out for our defense, will deliver 
them in a righteous cause. 20 

The eyes of Europe, nay, of the whole world, are on 
America. The eyes of every other Colony are on this — a 
Colony whose reputation, generosity, and magnanimity 
are universally acknowledged. I trust, therefore, it will 
not be diminished by our future conduct, that there will 25 
be no civil discord here, and that the only strife amongst 
brethren will be who shall do most to serve and to save 
an oppressed and injured country. 



EDxMUND RANDOLPH 

On the Adoption of the Constitution 

Mr. Chairman, — I am a child of the Revolution. My 
country very early indeed took me under its protection, 
at a time when I most wanted it ; and, by a succession of 
favors and honors, prevented even my most ardent wishes. 
S I feel the highest gratitude and attachment to my coun- 
try — her felicity is the most fervent prayer of my heart. 
Conscious of having exerted my faculties to the utmost 
in her behalf; if I have not succeeded in securing the 
esteem of my countrymen, I shall reap abundant consola- 

10 tion from the rectitude of my intentions : honors, when 
compared to the satisfaction accruing from a conscious 
independence and rectitude of conduct, are no equivalent. 
The unwearied study of my life shall be to promote her 
happiness. As a citizen, ambition and popularity are no 

15 objects with me. I expect in the course of a year to 
retire to that private station which I most sincerely 
prefer to all others. The security of public justice, sir, 
is what I most fervently wish — as I consider that object 
to be the primary step to the attainment of public happi- 

20 ness. I can declare to the whole world that in the part 
I take in this very important question I am actuated by 
a regard for what I conceive to be our true interest. I 
can also, with equal sincerity, declare that I would join 

10 



EDMUND RANDOLPH 11 

hefirt and hand in rejecting this system, did I conceive 
it would promote our happiness; but having a strong 
conviction on my mind, at this time, that by a disunion 
we shall throw away all those blessings we have so earnestly 
fought for, and that a rejection of the Constitution will 5 
operate disunion — pardon me if I discharge the obliga- 
tion I owe to" my country by voting for its adoption. We 
are told that the report of dangers is false. The cry of 
peace, sir, is false : say peace, when there is peace ; it is 
but a sudden calm. The tempest growls over you — 10 
look around' — wheresoever you look, you see danger. 
When there are so many witnesses in many parts of 
America, that justice is suffocated, shall peace and hap- 
piness still be said to reign ? Candor, sir, requires an un- 
disguised representation of our situation. Candor, sir, 15 
demands a faithful exposition of facts. Many citizens 
have found justice strangled and trampled under foot, 
through the course of jurisprudence in this country. Are 
those who have debts due to them satisfied with your 
government ? Are not creditors wearied with the tedious 20 
procrastination of your legal process? A process ob- 
scured by legislative mists. Cast your eyes to your sea- 
ports, see how commerce languishes: this country, so 
blessed by nature, with every advantage that can render 
commerce profitable, through defective legislation, is 25 
deprived of all the benefits and emoluments she might 
otherwise reap from it. We hear many complaints on 
the subject of located lands, — a variety of competitors 
claiming the same lands under legislative acts, — a public 
faith prostrated, and private confidence destroyed. 1 30 
ask you if your laws are reverenced? In every well- 



12 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

regulated community the laws command respect. ^a*e 
yours entitled to reverence? We not only see violations 
of the Constitution, but of national principles in repeated 
instances. How is the fact? The history of the viola- 
5 tions of the Constitution extends from the year 1776 to 
this present time — violations made by formal acts of 
the legislature; everything has been drawn within the 
legislative vortex. There is one example of this violation 
in Virginia, of a most striking and shocking nature — an 

io example, so horrid, that if I conceived my country would 
passively permit a repetition of it, dear as it is to me, 
I would seek means of expatriating myself from it. A 
man who was then a citizen was deprived of his life thus 
— from a mere reliance on general reports, a gentleman 

is in the House of Delegates informed the House that a cer- 
tain man (Josiah Phillips ) had committed several crimes, 
and was running at large, perpetrating other crimes, he 
therefore moved for leave to attaint him; he obtained 
that leave instantly ; no sooner did he obtain-it than he 

20 drew from his pocket a bill ready written for that effect ; 
it was read three times in one day, and carried to the 
Senate : I will not say that it passed the same day through 
the Senate, but he was attainted very speedily and pre- 
cipitately, without any proof better than vague reports ! 

2 5 Without being confronted with his accusers and witnesses, 
without the privilege of calling for evidence in his behalf, he 
was sentenced to death, and was afterward actually 
executed. Was this arbitrary deprivation of life, the 
dearest gift of God to man, consistent with the genius of 

30a Republican government? Is this compatible with the 
spirit of freedom? This, sir, has made the deepest im- 



EDMUND RANDOLPH 13 

pression in my heart, and I cannot contemplate it with- 
out horror. There are still a multiplicity of complaints 
of the debility of the laws. Justice in many instances is 
so unattainable that commerce may in fact be said to be 
stopped entirely. There is no peace, sir, in this land: 5 
can peace exist with injustice, licentiousness, insecurity, 
and oppression? These considerations, independent of 
many others which I have not yet enumerated, would be 
a sufficient reason for the adoption of this Constitution, 
because it secures the liberty of the citizen, his person and 10 
his property, and will invigorate and restore commerce 
and industry. An additional reason to induce us to 
adopt it is that excessive licentiousness which has re- 
sulted from the relaxation of our laws, and which will be 
checked by this government. Let us judge from the fate 15 
of more ancient nations;, licentiousness has produced 
tyranny among many of them: it has contributed as 
much (if not more) as any other cause whatsoever, to the 
loss of their liberties. I have respect for the integrity of 
our legislators — I believe them to be virtuous ; but as 20 
long as the defects of the Constitution exist, so long will 
laws be imperfect. The honorable gentleman went on 
further and said that the accession of eight States is not 
a reason for our adoption — many other things have 
been alleged out of order — instead of discussing the 25 
system regularly, a variety of points are promiscuously 
debated in order to make temporary impressions on the 
members. — Sir, were I convinced of the validity of their 
arguments, I would join them heart and hand. Were I 
convinced that the accession of eight States did not 30 
render our accession also necessary to preserve the 



14 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

Union, I would not accede to it till it should be previously 
amended ; but, sir, I am convinced that the Union will be 
lost by our rejection. — Massachusetts has adopted it ; 
she has recommended subsequent amendments; her in- 
5 fluence must be very considerable to obtain them ; I 
trust my countrymen have sufficient wisdom and virtue 
to entitle them to equal respect. Is it urged that being 
wiser we ought to prescribe amendments to the other 
States? I have considered this subject deliberately; 

10 wearied myself in endeavoring to find a possibility of pre- 
serving the Union, without our unconditional ratification, 
but, sir, in vain ; I find no other means. I ask myself a 
variety of questions applicable to the adopting States, 
and I conclude, will they repent of what they have done ? 

15 Will they acknowledge themselves in an error? Or, will 
they recede to gratify Virginia? My prediction is, that 
they will not. Shall we stand by ourselves, and be 
severed from the Union if amendments cannot be had? 
I have every reason for determining within myself that 

20 our rejection must dissolve the Union; and that that dis- 
solution will destroy our political happiness. The honor- 
able gentleman was pleased to draw out several other 
arguments out of order : that this government would 
destroy the State governments, the trial by jury, etc., 

25 and concluded by an illustration of his opinion, by a refer- 
ence to the confederacy of the Swiss. Let us argue with 
unprejudiced minds: they say that the trial by jury is 
gone — is this so ? Although I have declared my deter- 
mination to give my vote for it, yet I shall freely censure 

30 those parts which appear to me reprehensible. The trial 
by jury in criminal cases is secured — in civil cases it is 



EDMUND RANDOLPH 15 

not so expressly secured, as I could wish it; but it does 
not follow that Congress has the power of taking away 
this privilege which is secured by the Constitution of 
each State, and not given away by this Constitution — I 
have no fear on this subject — Congress must regulate it 5 
so as to suit every State. I will risk my property on the 
certainty that they will institute the trial by jury in 
such manner as shall accommodate the conveniences of 
the inhabitants in every State; the difficulty of ascer- 
taining this accommodation was the principal cause of 10 
its not being provided for. It will be the interest of the 
individuals composing Congress to put it on this con- 
venient footing. Shall we not choose men respectable 
for their good qualities? Or can we suppose that men 
tainted with the worst vices will get into Congress ? 1 15 
beg leave to differ from the honorable gentleman, in an- 
other point. He dreads that great inconveniences will 
ensue from the Federal Court; that our citizens will be 
harassed by being carried thither. I cannot think that 
this power of the Federal judiciary will necessarily be 20 
abused: the inconvenience here suggested being of a 
general nature, affecting most of the States, will, by 
general consent of the States, be removed; and, I trust, 
such regulations shall be made in this case as will accom- 
modate the people in every State. The honorable gentle- 25 
man instanced the Swiss cantons, as an example, to show 
us the possibility, if not expediency, of being in amicable 
alliance with the other states, without adopting this 
system. Sir, references to history will be fatal in politi- 
cal reasons, unless well guarded. Our mental ability is 30 
often too contracted, and powers of investigation so 



16 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

limited, that sometimes we adduce as an example in our 
favor what in fact militates against us. Examine the 
situation of that country comparatively to us : the extent 
and situation of that country is totally different from 

5 ours ; their country is surrounded by powerful, ambitious, 
and reciprocally jealous nations; their territory is small 
and the soil not very fertile. The peculiarity, sir, of their 
situation, has kept them together, and not that system 
of alliance to which the gentleman seems to attribute the 

10 durability and felicity of their connection. 



GEORGE MASON 

Congressional Control of Militia 

Mr. Chairman, — Unless there be some restriction on 
the power of calling forth the militia to execute the laws 
of the Union, suppress insurrections, and repel invasions, 
we may very easily see that it will produce dreadful 
oppressions. It is exceedingly unsafe, without some 5 
alterations. It would be to use the militia to a very bad 
purpose, if any disturbance happened in New Hampshire, 
to call them from Georgia. This would harass the people 
so much that they would agree to abolish the use of militia, 
and establish a standing army. I conceive the general 10 
government ought to have power over the militia, but 
it ought to have some bounds. If gentlemen say that 
the militia of a neighboring state is not sufficient, the gov- 
ernment ought to have power to call forth those of other 
States, the most convenient and contiguous. But in this 15 
case the consent of the State legislatures ought to be had. 
On real emergencies this consent will never be denied, 
each State being concerned in the safety of the rest. This 
power may be restricted without any danger. I wish 
such an amendment as this, that the militia of any State 20 
should not be marched beyond the limits of the adjoining 
State, and if it be necessary to draw them from one end 
of the continent to the other, I wish such a check as the 
c 17 



18 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

consent of the State legislature to be provided. Gentle- 
men may say that this would impede the government, 
and that the State legislatures would counteract it, by 
refusing their consent. This argument may be applied 
5 to all objections whatsoever. — How is this compared to 
the British constitution? — Though the king may declare 
war, the Parliament has the means of carrying it on. It 
is not so here. Congress can do both. Were is not for 
that check in the British government, the monarch would 

10 be a despot. When a war is necessary for the benefit 
of the nation, the means of carrying it on are never denied. 
If any unjust requisition be made on Parliament, it will 
be, as it ought to be, refused. The same principle ought 
to be observed in our government. In times of real dan- 

15 ger, the States will have the same enthusiasm in aiding 
the general government, and granting its demands, which 
is seen in England, when the king is engaged in a war 
apparently for the interest of the nation. — This power is 
necessary, but we ought to guard against danger. If 

20 ever they attempt to harass and abuse the militia, they 
may easily abolish them, and raise a standing army in 
their stead. There are various ways of destroying the 
militia. A standing army may be perpetually established 
in their stead. I abominate and detest the idea of a 

25 government where there is a standing army. The militia 
may be here destroyed by that method which has been 
practiced in other parts of the world before. That is, 
by rendering them useless, by disarming them. Under 
various pretenses, Congress may neglect to provide for 

3° arming and disciplining the militia, and the State govern- 
ments cannot do it, for Congress has an exclusive right 



GEORGE MASON 19 

to arm them. Here is a line of division drawn between 
the State and general governments. The power over the 
militia is divided between them. The national govern- 
ment has an exclusive right to provide for arming, organiz- 
ing, and disciplining the militia, and for governing such 5 
part of. them as may be employed in the service of the 
United States. The State governments have the power 
of appointing the officers, and of training the militia 
according to the discipline prescribed by Congress, if 
they should think proper to prescribe any. Should 10 
the national government wish to render the militia use- 
less, they may neglect them, and let them perish, in order 
to have a pretense of establishing a standing army. 

No man has a greater regard for the military gentlemen 
than I have. I admire their intrepidity, perseverance, 15 
and valor. But when once a standing army is established 
in any country, the people lose their liberty. When, 
against a regular and disciplined army, yeomanry are the 
only defense, — yeomanry, unskillful and unarmed, — what 
chance is there for preserving freedom ? Give me leave 20 
to recur to the page of history, to warn you of your pres- 
ent danger. — Recollect the history of most nations 
of the world. What havoc, desolation, and destruc- 
tion have been perpetrated by standing armies! An 
instance within the memory of some of this House 25 
will show us how our militia may be destroyed. Forty 
years ago, when the resolution of enslaving America 
was formed in Great Britain, the British Parliament was 
advised by an artful man,° who was governor of Penn- 
sylvania, to disarm the people. — That it was the best 30 
and most effectual way to enslave them. — But that they 



20 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

should not do it openly; but to weaken them and let 
them sink gradually, by totally disusing and neglecting 
the militia. This was a most iniquitous project. Why 
should we not provide against the danger of having our 
5 militia, our real and natural strength, destroyed ? The 
general government ought at the same time to have 
some such power. But we need not give them power to 
abolish our militia. If they neglect to arm them, and 
prescribe proper discipline, they will be of no use. I am 

ionot acquainted with the military profession. I beg to 
be excused for any errors I may commit with respect to 
it. But I stand on the general principles of freedom, 
whereon I dare to meet any one. I wish, that in case the 
general government should neglect to arm and discipline 

15 the militia, that there should be an express declaration, 

that the State governments might arm and discipline them. 

With this single exception I would agree to this part, as 

I am conscious the government ought to have the power. 

They may effect the destruction of the militia, by 

20 rendering the service odious to the people themselves, 
by harassing them from one end of the continent to the 
other, and by keeping them under martial law. 

The English Parliament never passes a mutiny bill ° but 
for one year. This is necessary, for otherwise the soldiers 

25 would be on the same footing with the officers, and the 
army would be dissolved. One mutiny bill has been here 
in force since the revolution. I humbly conceive there 
is extreme danger of establishing cruel martial regulations. 
If at any time our rulers should have unjust and in- 

30 iquitous designs against our liberties, and should wish 
to establish a standing army, the first attempt would be 



GEORGE MASON 21 

to render the service and use of militia odious to the people 
themselves; subjecting them to unnecessary severity of 
discipline in time of peace, confining them under martial 
law, and disgusting them so much as to make them cry 
out, Give us a standing army. — I would wish to have some 5 
check to exclude this danger ; as, that the militia should 
never be subject to martial law, but in time of war. I 
consider and fear the natural propensity of rulers to op- 
press the people. I wish only to prevent them from doing 
evil. By these amendments I would give necessary 10 
powers, but no unnecessary power. If the clause stands 
as it is now, it will take from the State legislatures what 
divine providence has given to every individual, — the 
means of self-defense. Unless it be moderated in some 
degree, it will ruin us, and introduce a standing army. x 5 

2|S 3gS #j£ 5§5 5§» 5|C *|5 

It is my firm belief that this clause which provides 
for arming, organizing, and disciplining the militia, and 
governing those in the actual service of the Union, includes 
the power of annexing punishments, and establishing 
necessary discipline ; more especially as the construction 20 
of this and every other part of the Constitution is left 
to those who are to govern. If so, I ask if Congress could 
not inflict the most ignominious punishments on the most 
worthy citizens of the community ? Would freemen sub- 
mit to such indignant treatment? It may be thought 25 
a strained construction, but it is no more than Congress 
might put upon it. Such severities might be exercised 
on the militia as would make them wish the use of militia 
to be utterly abolished ; and assent to the establishment 
of a standing army. 3° 



WILLIAM WIRT 

Trial of Aaron Burr. 

Will any man say that Blennerhassett ° was the prin- 
cipal, and Burr but an accessory? Who will believe 
that Burr, the author and projector of the plot, who 
raised the forces, who enlisted the men and who procured 
5 the funds for carrying it into execution, was made a cat's- 
paw of ? Will any man believe that Burr, who is a soldier, 
bold, ardent, restless, and aspiring, the great actor whose 
brain conceived and whose hand brought the plot into 
operation, that he should sink down into an accessory, 
10 and that Blennerhassett should be elevated into a prin- 
cipal ? He would startle at once at the thought. Aaron 
Burr, the contriver of the whole conspiracy, to everybody 
concerned in it was as the sun to the planets which sur- 
round him. Did he not bind them in their respective 
15 orbits and give them their light, their heat, and their 
motion? Yet he is to be considered an accessory, and 
Blennerhassett is to be the principal! 

Let us put the case between Burr and Blennerhassett. 
Let us compare the two men and settle this question of 
20 precedence between them. It may save a good deal of 
troublesome ceremony hereafter. 

Who Aaron Burr is, we have seen in part already. I 
22 



WILLIAM WIRT 23 

will add that, beginning his operations in New York, he 
associates with him men whose wealth is to supply the 
necessary funds. Possessed of tho mainspring, his per- 
sonal labor contrives all the machinery. Pervading the 
continent from New York to New Orleans, he draws into 5 
his plan, by every allurement which he can contrive, men 
of all ranks and descriptions. To youthful ardor he 
presents danger and glory; to ambition, rank and titles 
and honors; to avarice, the mines of Mexico. To each 
person whom he addresses he presents the object adapted 10 
to his taste. His recruiting officers are appointed. Men 
are engaged throughout the continent. Civil life is indeed 
quiet upon its surface, but in its bosom this man has con- 
trived to deposit the materials which, with the slightest 
touch of his match, produce an explosion to shake the 15 
continent. All this his restless ambition has contrived; 
and in the autumn of 1806 he goes forth for the last time 
to apply this match. On this occasion he meets with 
Blennerhassett. 

Who is Blennerhassett ? A native of Ireland, a man 20 
of letters, who fled from the storms of his own country 
to find quiet in ours. His history shows that war is not 
the natural element of his mind. If it had been, he never 
would have exchanged Ireland for America. So far is 
an army from furnishing the society natural and proper 25 
to Mr. Blennerhassett 's character, that on his arrival in 
America he retired even from the population of the 
Atlantic States, and sought quiet and solitude in the bosom 
of our Western forests. But he carried with him taste 
and science and wealth ; and lo, the desert smiled ! Pos- 3° 
sessing himself of a beautiful island in the Ohio, he rears 



24 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

upon it a palace and decorates it with every romantic 
embellishment of fancy. A shrubbery, that Shenstone 
might have envied, blooms around him. Music, that 
might have charmed Calypso and her nymphs, is his. 
5 An extensive library spreads its treasures before him. 
A philosophical apparatus offers to him all the secrets 
and mysteries of nature. Peace, tranquillity, and in- 
nocence shed their mingled delights around him. And 
to crown the enchantment of the scene, a wife, who is 

i° said to be lovely even beyond her sex and graced with 
every accomplishment that can render it irresistible, had 
blessed him with her love and made him the father of 
several children. The evidence would convince you that 
this is but a faint picture of the real life. In the midst 

15 of all this peace, this innocent simplicity and this tran- 
quillity, this feast of the mind, this pure banquet of the 
heart, the destroyer comes; he comes to change this 
paradise into a hell. Yet the flowers do not wither at 
his approach. No monitory shuddering through the 

20 bosom of their unfortunate possessor warns him of the 
ruin that is coming upon him. A stranger presents him- 
self. Introduced to their civilities by the high rank which 
he had lately held in his country, he soon finds his way to 
their hearts by the dignity and elegance of his demeanor, 

25 the light and beauty of his conversation, and the seductive 
and fascinating power of his address. The conquest was 
not difficult. Innocence is ever simple and credulous. 
Conscious of no design itself, it suspects none in others. 
It wears no guard before its breast. Every door and 

30 portal and avenue of the heart is thrown open, and all 
who choose it enter. Such was the state of Eden when 



WILLIAM WIRT 25 

the serpent entered its bowers. The prisoner, in a more en- 
gaging form, winding himself into the open and unpracticed 
heart of the unfortunate Blennerhassett, found but little 
difficulty in changing the native character of that heart 
and the objects of its affection. By degrees he infuses 5 
into it the poison of his own ambition. He breathes into 
it the fire of his own courage; a daring and desperate 
thirst for glory; an ardor panting for great enterprises, 
for all the storm and bustle and hurricane of life. In 
a short time the whole man is changed, and every object 10 
of his former delight is relinquished. No more he enjoys 
the tranquil scene; it has become flat and insipid to his 
taste. His books are abandoned. His retort and crucible 
are thrown aside. His shrubbery blooms and breathes 
its fragrance upon the air in vain; he likes it not. His 15 
ear no longer drinks the rich melody of music; it longs 
for the trumpet's clangor and the cannon's roar. Even 
the prattle of his babes, once so sweet, no longer affects 
him; and the angel smile of his wife, which hitherto 
touched his bosom with ecstasy so unspeakable, is now 20 
unseen and unfelt. Greater objects have taken possession 
of his soul. His imagination has been dazzled by visions 
of diadems, of stars and garters and titles of nobility. 
He has been taught to burn with restless emulation at 
the names of great heroes and conquerors. His en- 25 
chanted island is destined soon to relapse into a wilder- 
ness ; and in a few months we find the beautiful and tender 
partner of his bosom, whom he lately " permitted not 
the winds of " summer "to visit too roughly," we find her 
shivering at midnight, on the winter banks of the Ohio, 3° 
and mingling her tears with the torrents, that froze as 



26 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

they fell. Yet this unfortunate man, thus deluded from 
his interest and his happiness, thus seduced from the 
paths of innocence and peace, thus confounded in the 
toils that were deliberately spread for him and over- 
5 whelmed by the mastering spirit and genius of another — 
this man, thus ruined and undone and made to play a 
subordinate part in this grand drama of guilt and treason, 
this man is to be called the principal offender, while he, 
by whom he was thus plunged in misery, is comparatively 

10 innocent, a mere accessory ! Is this reason ? Is it law ? 
Is it humanity? Sir, neither the human heart nor the 
human understanding will bear a perversion so mon- 
strous and absurd ! so shocking to the soul ! so revolting 
to reason ! Let Aaron Burr, then, not shrink from the high 

15 destination which he has courted, and having already 
ruined Blennerhassett in fortune, character, and happi- 
ness forever, let him not attempt to finish the tragedy by 
thrusting that ill-fated man between himself and punish- 
ment. 

20 Upon the whole, sir, reason declares Aaron Burr the 
principal in this crime and confirms herein the sentence 
of the law ; and the gentleman, in saying that his offense 
is of a derivative and accessorial nature, begs the question 
and draws his conclusions from what, instead of being 

25 conceded, is denied. It is clear from what has been said, 
that Burr did not derive his guilt from the men on the 
island, but imparted his own guilt to them; that he is 
not an accessory but a principal ; and, therefore, that there 
is nothing in the objection which demands a record of 

30 their conviction before we shall go on with our proof against 
him. 



WILLIAM PINKNEY 
On the Missouri Question 

The clause of the Constitution which relates to the ad- 
mission of new States is in these words: "The Congress 
may admit new States into this Union," etc., and the 
advocates for restriction maintain that the use of the 
word "may" imports discretion to admit or to reject; 5 
and that in this discretion is wrapped up another — that 
of prescribing the terms and conditions of admission in 
case you are willing to admit : Cujus est dare ejus est 
disponere. I will npt for the present inquire whether 
this involved discretion to dictate the terms of admission i C 
belongs to you or not. It is fit that I should first look to 
the nature and extent of it. 

I think I may assume that if such a power be anything 
but nominal, it is much more than adequate to the pres- 
ent object — that it is a power of vast expansion, to 15 
which human sagacity can assign no reasonable limits — 
that it is a capacious reservoir of authority, from which 
you may take, in all time to come, as occasion may serve, 
the means of oppression as well as of benefaction. I 
know that it professes at this moment to be the chosen 2c 
instrument of protecting mercy, and would win upon us 
by its benignant smiles : but I know, too, it can frown, and 
play the tyrant, if it be so disposed. Notwithstanding 

27 



28 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

the softness which it now assumes, and the care with which 
it conceals its giant proportions beneath the deceitful 
drapery of sentiment, when it next appears before you 
it may show itself with a sterner countenance and in more 
5 awful dimensions. It is, to speak the truth, sir, a power 
of colossal size — if indeed it be not an abuse of language 
to call it by the gentle name of a power. Sir, it is a wilder- 
ness of powers, of which fancy in her happiest mood is 
unable to perceive the far-distant and shadowy boundary. 

10 Armed with such a power, with Religion in one hand and 
Philanthropy in the other, and followed with a goodly 
train of public and private virtues, you may achieve more 
conquests over sovereignties not your own than falls 
to the common lot of even uncommon ambition. By 

15 the aid of such a power, skillfully employed, you may 
"bridge your way" over the Hellespont that separates 
State legislation from that of Congress; and you may 
do so for pretty much the same purpose with which 
Xerxes once bridged his way across the Hellespont, that 

20 separates Asia from Europe. He did so, in the language 
of Milton, "the liberties of Greece to yoke." You may 
do so for the analogous purpose of subjugating and reduc- 
ing the sovereignties of States, as your taste or con- 
venience may suggest, and fashioning them to your im- 

25 perial will. There are those in this House who appear 

I to think, and I doubt not sincerely, that the particular 
restraint now under consideration is wise, and benevolent, 
and good : wise as respects the Union — good as respects 
Missouri — benevolent as respects the unhappy victims 

30 whom with a novel kindness it would incarcerate in the 
South, and bless by decay and extirpation. Let all such 



WILLIAM PINKNEY 29 

beware, lest in their desire for the effect which they believe 
the restriction will produce, they are too easily satisfied 
that they have the right to impose it. The moral beauty 
of the present purpose, or even its political recommenda- 
tions (whatever they may be), can do nothing for a power 5 
like this, which claims to prescribe conditions ad libitum, 
and to be competent to this purpose, because it is com- 
petent to all. This restriction, if it be not smothered in 
its birth, will be but a small part of the progeny of that 
prolific power. It teems with a mighty brood, of which 10 
this may be entitled to the distinction of comeliness as 
well as of primogeniture. The rest may want the boasted 
loveliness of their predecessor, and be even uglier than 
" Lapland witches." 

Perhaps, sir, you will permit me to remind you that 15 
it is almost always in company with those considerations 
that interest the heart in some way or other, that en- 
croachment steals into the world. A bad purpose throws 
no veil over the licenses of power. It leaves them to be 
seen as they are. It affords them no protection from the 20 
inquiring eye of jealousy. The danger is when a tre- 
mendous discretion like the present is attempted to be 
assumed, as on this occasion, in the names of Pity, of 
Religion, of National Honor and National Prosperity; 
when encroachment tricks itself out in the robes of Piety, 25 
or Humanity, or addresses itself to pride of country, 
with all its kindred passions and motives. It is then that 
the guardians of the Constitution are apt to slumber on 
their watch, or, if awake, to mistake for lawful rule some 
pernicious arrogation Of power. 30 

I would not discourage authorized legislation upon those 



30 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

kindly, generous, and noble feelings which Providence 
has given to us for the best of purposes : but when power 
to act is under discussion, I will not look to the end in view, 
lest I should become indifferent to the lawfulness of the 
5 means. Let us discard from this high constitutional 
question, all those extrinsic considerations which have 
been forced into its discussion. Let us endeavor to 
approach it with a philosophic impartiality of temper — 
with a sincere desire to ascertain the boundaries of our 

10 authority, and a determination to keep our wishes in 
subjection to our allegiance to the Constitution. 

Slavery, we are told in many a pamphlet, memorial, 
and speech, with which the press has lately groaned, is 
a foul blot upon our otherwise immaculate reputation. 

15 Let this be conceded — yet you are no nearer than before 
to the conclusion that you possess power which may deal 
with other subjects as effectually as with this. Slavery, 
we are further told, with some pomp of metaphor, is a 
canker at the root of all that is excellent in this republican 

20 empire, a pestilent disease that is snatching the youthful 
bloom from its cheek, prostrating its honor, and withering 
its strength. Be it so — yet if you have power to medicine 
to it in the way proposed, and in virtue of the diploma 
which you claim, you have also power in the distribution 

25 of your political alexipharmics to present the deadliest 
drugs to every territory that would become a State, and 
bid it drink or remain a colony forever. Slavery, we are 
also told, is now "rolling onward with a rapid tide towards 
the boundless regions of the West," threatening to doom 

30 them to sterility and sorrow, unless some potent voice 
can say to it — thus far shalt thou go and no farther. 



WILLIAM PINKNEY 31 

Slavery .engenders pride and indolence in him who com- 
mands, and inflicts intellectual and moral degradation on 
him who serves. Slavery, in fine, is unchristian and 
abominable. Sir, I shall not stop to deny that slavery 
is all this and more ; but I shall not think myself the less 5 
authorized to deny that it is for you to stay the course 
of this dark torrent, by opposing to it a mound raised 
up by the labors of this portentous discretion on the 
domain of others — a mound which you cannot erect but 
through the instrumentality of a trespass of no ordinary 10 
kind — not the comparatively innocent trespass that 
beats down a few blades of grass which the first kind sun 
or the next refreshing shower may cause to spring again — 
but that which levels with the ground the lordliest trees 
of the forest, and claims immortality for the destruction 15 
which it inflicts. 

I shall not, I am sure, be told that I exaggerate this 
power. It has been admitted here and elsewhere that 
I do not. But I want no such concession. It is manifest 
that as a discretionary power it is everything or nothing 20 
— that its head is in the clouds, or that it is a. mere fig- 
ment of enthusiastic speculation — that it has no ex- 
istence, or that it is an alarming vortex ready to swallow 
up all such portions of the sovereignty of an infant State 
as you may think fit to cast into it as preparatory to the 25 
introduction into the union of the miserable residue. 
No man can contradict me when I say, that if you have 
this power, you may squeeze down a new-born sovereign 
State to the size of a pygmy, and then taking it between 
finger and thumb, stick it into some niche of the Union, 30 
and still continue by way of mockery to call it a State in 



32 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

the sense of the Constitution. You may waste it to a shadow, 
and then introduce it into the society of flesh and blood 
an object of scorn and derision. You may sweat and 
reduce it to a thing of skin and bone, and then place the 
S ominous skeleton beside the ruddy and healthful members 
of the Union, that it may have leisure to mourn the la- 
mentable difference between itself and its companions, 
to brood over its disastrous promotion, and to seek in 
justifiable discontent an opportunity for separation, and 

10 insurrection, and rebellion. What may you not do by 
dexterity and perseverance with this terrific power? 
You may give to a new State, in the form of terms which 
it cannot refuse (as I shall show you hereafter), a statute 
book of " a thousand volumes — providing not for ordinary 

15 cases only, but even for possibilities ; you may lay the 
yoke, no matter whether light or heavy, upon the necks 
of the latest posterity; you may send this searching 
pow T er into every hamlet for centuries to come, by laws 
enacted in the spirit of prophecy, and regulating all those 

20 dear relations of domestic concern which belong to local 
legislation, and which even local legislation touches with 
a delicate and sparing hand. This is the first inroad. 
But will it be the last? This provision is but a pioneer 
for others of a more desolating aspect. It is that fatal 

25 bridge of which Milton speaks, and when once firmly 
built, what shall hinder you to pass it when you please 
for the purpose of plundering power after power at the 
expense of new States, as you will still continue to call 
them, and raising up prospective codes irrevocable and 

30 immortal, which shall leave to those States the empty 
shadows of domestic sovereignty, and convert them into 



WILLIAM PINKNEY 33 

petty pageants, in themselves contemptible, but rendered 
infinitely more so by the contrast of their humble faculties 
with the proud and admitted pretensions of those who, 
having doomed them to the inferiority of vassals, have 
condescended to take them into their society and under 5 
their protection? 

I shall be told, perhaps, that you can have no tempta- 
tion to do all or any part of this, and, moreover, that you 
can do nothing of yourselves, or, in other words, without 
the concurrence of the new State. The last of these sug- 10 
gestions I shall examine by and by. To the first I answer, 
that it is not incumbent upon me to prove that this dis- 
cretion will be abused. It is enough for me to prove the 
vastness of the power as an inducement to make us pause 
upon it, and to inquire with attention whether there is 15 
any apartment in the Constitution large enough to give 
it entertainment. It is more than enough for me to show 
that vast as is this power, it is with reference to mere 
territories an irresponsible power. Power is irresponsible 
when it acts upon these who are defenseless against it — 20 
who cannot check it. or contribute to check it, in its ex- 
ercise — who can resist it only by force. The territory 
of Missouri has no check upon this power. It has no share 
in the government of the Union. In this body it has 
no representative. In the other House it has, by courtesy, 25 
an agent, who may remonstrate, but cannot vote. That 
such an irresponsible power is not likely to be abused, who 
will undertake to assert? If it is not, "Experience is a 
cheat, and fact a liar." The power which England 
claimed over the colonies was such a power, and it was 30 
abused — and hence the Revolution. Such a power 



34 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

is always perilous to those who wield it, as well as to those 
on whom it is exerted. Oppression is but another name 
for irresponsible power, if History is to be trusted. 
******* 

"New States maybe admitted by the Congress into this 
5 Union." It is objected that the word "may" imports 
power, not obligation — a right to decide — a discretion 
to grant or refuse. 

To this it might be answered that power is duty on 
many occasions. But let it be conceded that it is dis- 

10 cretionary. What consequence follows? A power to 
refuse, in a case like this, does not necessarily involve 
a power to exact terms. You must look to the result, 
which is the declared object of the power. Whether 
you will arrive at it, or not, may depend on your will; 

15 but you cannot compromise with the result intended and 
professed. 

What, then, is the professed result ? To admit a State 
into this Union. 

What is that Union? A confederation of States equal 

20 in sovereignty — capable of everything which the Con- 
stitution does not forbid, or authorize Congress to forbid. 
It is an equal Union, between parties equally sovereign. 
They were sovereign, independently of the Union. The 
object of the Union was common protection for the ex- 

25 ercise of already existing sovereignty. The parties gave 
up a portion of that sovereignty to insure the remainder. 
As far as they gave it up by the common compact they 
have ceased to be sovereign. The Union provides the 
means of defending the residue : and it is into that Union 

3° that a new State is to come. By acceding to it, the new 



WILLIAM PINKNEY 35 

State is placed on the same footing with the original 
States. It accedes for the same purpose, i.e. protection 
for its unsurrendered sovereignty. If it comes in shorn 
of its beams — crippled and disparaged beyond the 
original States, it is not into the original Union that it 5 
comes. For it is a different sort of Union. The first 
was Union inter pares ° : This is a Union between dis- 
parates — between giants and a dwarf — between power 
and feebleness — between full-proportioned sovereignties 
and a miserable image of power — a thing which that 10 
very Union has shrunk and shriveled from its just size, 
instead of preserving it in its true dimensions. # 

It is into "this Union," i.e. the Union of the Federal 
Constitution, that you are to admit, or refuse to admit. 
You can admit into no other. You cannot make the 15 
Union, as to the new State, what it is not as to the old ; 
for then it is not this Union that you open for the en- 
trance of a new party. If you make it enter into a new 
and additional compact, is it any longer the same Union ? 

We are told that admitting a State into the Union is 20 
a compact. Yes — but what sort of a compact ? A 
compact that it shall be a member of the Union, as the 
Constitution has made it. You cannot new fashion it. 
You may make a compact to admit, but when admitted, 
the original compact prevails. The Union is a compact, 25 
with a provision of political power and agents for the 
accomplishment of its objects. Vary that compact as 
to a new State — give new energy to that political power 
so as to make it act with more force upon a new State 
than upon the old — make the will of those agents more 30 
effectually the arbiter of the fate of a new State than of 



36 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

the old, and it may be confidently said that the new State 
has not entered into this Union, but into another Union. 
How far the Union has been varied is another question. 
But that it has been varied is clear. 
5 If I am told that by the bill relative to Missouri, you 
do not legislate upon a new State — - 1 answer that you do ; 
and I answer further that it is immaterial whether you 
do or not. But it is upon Missouri, as a State, that your 
terms and conditions are to act. Until Missouri is a 

10 State, the terms and conditions are nothing. You legis- 
late in the shape of terms and conditions, prospectively — 
and you so legislate upon it that when it comes into the 
Union it is to be bound by a contract degrading and 
diminishing its sovereignty, and is to be stripped of rights 

15 which the original parties to the Union did not consent 
to abandon and which that Union (so far as depends upon 
it) takes under its protection and guarantee. 

Is the right to hold slaves a right which Massachusetts 
enjoys? If it is, Massachusetts is under this Union in 

20 a different character from Missouri. The compact of 
Union for it, is different from the same compact of Union 
for Missouri. The power of Congress is different — every- 
thing which depends upon the Union is, in that respect, 
different. 

25 But it is immaterial whether you legislate for Missouri 
as a State or not. The effect of your legislation is to 
bring it into the Union with a portion of its sovereignty 
taken away. 

But it is a State which you are to admit. What is a 

3° State in the sense of the Constitution? It is not a State 
in the general — but a State as you find it in the Con- 



WILLIAM PINKNEY 37 

stitution. A State, generally, is a body politic or independ- 
ent political society of men. But the State which you 
are to admit must be more or less than this political 
entity. What must it be? Ask the Constitution. It 
shows what it means by a State by reference to the parties 5 
to it. It must be such a State as Massachusetts, Virginia, 
and the other members of the American confederacy — 
a State with full sovereignty except as the Constitution 
restricts it. 

It is said that the word " may " necessarily implies the ic 
right of prescribing the terms of admission. Those who 
maintain this are aware that there are no express words 
(such as upon such terms and conditions as Congress shall 
think fit), words which it was natural to expect to find in 
the Constitution, if the effect contended for were meant. 15 
They put it, therefore, on the word " may," and on that 
alone. 

Give to that word all the force you please — what does 
it import? That Congress is not bound to admit a new 
State into this Union. Be it so for argument's sake. 20 
Does it follow that when you consent to admit into this 
Union a new State you can make it less in sovereign power 
than the original, parties to that Union — that you can 
make the Union as to it what it is not as to them — that 
you can fashion it to your liking by compelling it to pur- 25 
chase admission into an Union by sacrificing a portion 
of that power which it is the sole purpose of the Union 
to maintain in all the plenitude which the Union itself 
does not impair ? Does it follow that you can force upon 
it an additional compact not found in the compact of 3° 
Union — that you can make it come into the Union less 



38 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

a State, in regard to sovereign power, than its fellows in 
that Union — that you can cripple its legislative compe- 
tency (beyond the Constitution which is the pact of Union, 
to which you make it a party as if it had been originally 
5 a party to it), by what you choose to call a condition, but 
which, whatever it may be called, brings the new govern- 
ment into the Union under new obligations to it, and with 
disparaged power to be protected by it. 

In a word — the whole amount of the argument on the 

10 other side is — that you may refuse to admit a new State, 
and that therefore if yo*U admit, you may prescribe the 
terms. 

The answer to that arugment is — that even if you can 
refuse, you can prescribe no terms which are inconsistent 

15 with the act you are to do. You can prescribe no con- 
ditions which, if carried into effect, would make the new 
State less a sovereign State than, under the Union as it 
stands, it would be. You can prescribe no terms which 
will make the compact of Union between it and the original 

20 States essentially different from that compact among the 
original States. You may admit, or refuse to admit: 
but if you admit, you must admit a State in the sense of 
the Constitution — a State with all such sovereignty as 
belongs to the original parties: and it must be into this 
5 Union that you are to admit it, not into a Union of your 
own dictating, formed out of the existing Union by qualifi- 
cations and new compacts, altering its character and effect, 
and making it fall short of its protecting energy in refer- 
ence to the new State, whilst it acquires an energy of 

3° another sort — the energy of restraint and destruction. 
I have thus endeavored to show, that even if you have 



WILLIAM PINKNEY 39 

a discretion to refuse to admit — you have no discretion, 
if you are willing to admit, to insist upon any terms that 
impair the sovereignty of the admitted State as it would 
otherwise stand in the Union by the Constitution which 
receives it into its bosom. To admit or not, is for you to 5 
decide. Admission once conceded, it follows as a corollary 
that you must take the new State as an equal companion 
with its fellows — that you cannot recast or new model 
the Union pro hac vice — but that you must receive it 
into the actual Union, and recognize it as a parcener in the 10 
common inheritance, without any other shackles than the 
rest have, by the Constitution, submitted to bear — with- 
out any other extinction of power than is the work of 
the Constitution acting indifferently upon all. 



JOHN RANDOLPH 

Retort to McLane 

Mr. Randolph said, "If the House will lend me its 
attention for five minutes, I think I can demonstrate 
that the argument of the gentleman from Delaware, in 
favor of the increased duty on brown sugar, is one of the 
5 most suicidal arguments that ever reared its spectral front 
in a deliberative assembly. 

The gentleman objects to reducing the duty on sugar, 
because it will diminish the revenue, which he says we 
cannot dispense with — and yet he wishes to continue it 
10 as a bounty of three dollars per one hundred pounds (not 
the long hundred of 112 lbs.), until the sugar planting 
and sugar manufacture should be extended, so as to 
supply the whole demand of our consumption. Then, 
what becomes of the revenue from sugar that we cannot 
is dispense with? This is what I call a suicidal argument 
— it destroys itself. 

But, we must not reduce the duty to what it stood at, 
only eight years ago, because it will injure the sale of the 
public lands. Yes, sir, the public lands ! for which, sold 
20 or unsold, we never get paid. The gentleman would per- 
suade us that we are under obligation to such purchasers 
as bought the sugar lands under the existing duty — and 
how many sugar estates have been established on lands 

40 



JOHN RANDOLPH 41 

bought of the public — and since the year 1816, too? 
Sir, this argument of obligation to tax ourselves, for the 
profit of these overgrown sugar planters, will not hold 
water. It will not even hold cotton. — [Mr. Tod's re- 
iterated motions to enhance the tax on cotton bagging, 5 
had just succeeded by the Speaker's casting vote.] We 
are not to reduce the duty on sugar for fear of injuring 
the sale of the public lands, for which, although we may 
obtain nominal payment, we shall never receive one 
penny. 10 

[Mr. McLane, at the commencement of his reply, ap- 
pearing to be much irritated, Mr. Randolph rose and 
assured him that he intended not the slightest personal 
disrespect or offense — but Mr. McLane went on to say 
that the gentleman from Virginia had displayed a good 15 
head — but he would not accept that gentleman's head, 
to be obliged to have his heart along with it.] 

Mr. Randolph replied : 

It costs me nothing, sir, to say that I very much regret 
that the zeal which I have not only felt but cherished, 20 
on the subject of laying taxes in a manner which, in my 
judgment, is inconsistent, not merely with the spirit, but 
the very letter of the Constitution — should have given 
to my remarks, on this subject, a pungency which has 
rendered them disagreeable, and even offensive to the 25 
gentleman from Delaware. For that gentleman I have 
never expressed any other sentiment but respect — I 
have never uttered, or entertained, an unkind feeling 
towards that gentleman, either in this House or elsewhere 
— nor do I now feel any such sentiment towards him — 30 
I never pressed my regard upon him — I press it upon 



42 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

no man. He appears to have considered my remarks as 
having a personal application to himself. I certainly did 
not intend to give them that direction, and I think that 
my prompt disclaimer of any such intention ought to 
5 have disarmed his resentment, however justly it may 
have been excited. He has been pleased, sir, to say 
something which, no doubt, he thinks very severe, about 
my head and my heart. 

How easy, sir, would it be for me to reverse the gentle- 

10 man's proposition, and to retort upon him, that I would 

not, in return, take that gentleman's heart, however good 

it may be, if obliged to take such a head into the bargain. 

But, sir, I do not think this — I never thought it — 

and, therefore, I cannot be so ungenerous as to say it: 

15 for, Mr. Speaker, who made me a searcher of hearts ? — 
of the heart of a fellow-man, a fellow-sinner ? Sir, this is 
an awful subject ! better suited to Friday or Sunday 
next (Good Friday and Easter Sunday), two of the most 
solemn days in the Christian calendar — when I hope we 

20 shall all consider it, and lay it to heart as we ought to do. 
But, sir, I must still maintain that the argument of the 
gentleman is suicidal — he has fairly worked the equa- 
tion, and one hah of his argument is a complete and con- 
clusive answer to the other. And, sir, if I should ever be 

25 so unfortunate as, through inadvertence, or the heat of 
debate, to fall into such an error, I should, so far from 
being offended, feel myself under obligation to any gentle- 
man who would expose its fallacy, even by ridicule — as 
fair a weapon as any in the whole parliamentary armory. 

3° I shall not go so far as to maintain, with my Lord Shaftes- 
bury, that it is the unerring test of truth, whatever it 



JOHN RANDOLPH 43 

may be of temper — but if it be proscribed as a weapon 
as unfair as it is confessedly powerful, what shall we say 
(I put it, sir, to you, and to the House) to the poisoned 
arrow ? — to the tomahawk and the scalping knife ? 
Could the most unsparing use of ridicule justify a resort 5 
to these weapons? Was this a reason that the gentle- 
man should sit in judgment on my heart? — yes, sir, my 
heart — which the gentleman (whatever he may say), in 
his heart, believes to be a frank heart, as I trust it is a 
brave heart. Sir, I dismiss the gentleman to his self- IO 
complacency — let him go — yes, sir, let him go — and 
thank his God that he is not as this Publican. 



R. B. RHETT 

An Address 

Fellow-citizens, — Three weeks have now elapsed 
since the news arrived amongst us that the Tariff Bill 
had become a law. We deem it proper that this time 
should have passed away, before any stand in opposition 

5 should be assumed, that we may not appear to act under 
the impulse of excited and momentary feelings, and that 
we might have due time for cool and determinate delibera- 
tion. The crisis requires the maturest thought in council ; 
but most of all, it requires all the concentrated energy of 

10 passion in action, of which, as a people, we are capable, 
to overcome the dangers and difficulties that surround us. 
You still, with desponding countenances ask each other, 
"What shall we do?" "What shall we do?" It is in 
answer to this question, that, as parties jointly interested, 

15 we now venture to offer you our feeble counsel and con- 
scientious determination. 

Fellow-citizens, — In the spirit of open candor we 
design to address you. Even if the stern bond of our 
united destiny did not bind us together, we know that 

20 your generosity would give us your sympathies, for when 
were the hearts of freemen closed to the voice of the 
oppressed? Openly then will we speak to you. If in 
error, in the estimations of your better judgments, we 

44 



R. B. RHETT 45 

simply claim your charity, and are content with our 
minority — if in passion overwrought, think of us as 
men not long used to oppression, who believe that they 
have borne patiently, and borne well, until further tolera- r a 
tion will become their crime. We disdain any profession 5 
of motives. If accusation and imputation must come, 
however lacerating to honorable minds, we will bear them, 
as we have borne worse things — as incidents of our hard 
situation. 

During the last summer, we collected together in ourio 
district capacities, and from every section of the State, 
declared to the Congress of the United States, that a 
Tariff framed with a view to encourage domestic manu- 
factures, was contrary to our free and chartered rights. 
Our legislature took the subject into consideration. 15 
They condescended to repeat what they had already said 
in 1824; and, in an able and dispassionate memorial, 
solemnly laid their protest before the Congress of this 
Union, against such partial and unconstitutional legisla- 
tion. As a sovereign State, we have declared that such 20 
a Tariff would be a violation of our sovereign rights. As 
freemen, we have proclaimed to the world that such a 
Tariff would be an infringement of our privileges as men ; 
and in terms as moderate as they were respectful, we have 
implored our brethren not to drive us to the stern alter- 25 
native of submitting in shame, or resistance in sorrow. 
Your remonstrances and your implorations have been in 
vain; and a Tariff Bill has passed, not, indeed, such as 
you apprehended, but tenfold worse in all its oppressive 
features. — Nor does the manner in which your memorials 3° 
have been considered by the Congress of these States, 



46 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

alleviate your compromitted situation. They sleep 
quietly upon their tables ; whilst day by day, and week 
after week, passes away in prolonged discussion, in the ef- 
fort to adjust, in what manner by mutual concession they 
5 can best license each other to extort from the whole 
community. The question whether they can constitu- 
tionally do this or not, excites neither solicitude nor 
alarm, and appears unworthy of inquiry. Power seems 
to be right, and our representatives sit in desponding 

10 silence, under conviction, that their voices would as 
easily move the Capitol from its basis, as shake the pur- 
pose of interested cupidity. They protest indeed before 
they receive the blow. 

What course is left to us to pursue? Our Northern 

15 and Western brethren are not — cannot be ignorant of 
the operation of the system they advocate, or of the 
powers they claim for the general government. They full 
well know, because like us they must Feel, that it lifts 
them to prosperity, while it sinks us into ruin. We have 

20 done by words all that words can do. To talk more must 
be a dastard's refuge. 

What course is left for us to pursue? If we have the 
common pride of men, or the determination of freemen, 
we must resist the impositions of this Tariff. We stand 

25 committed. To be stationary is impossible. We must 
either retrograde in dishonor, and in shame, and receive 
the contempt and scorn of our brethren, superadded to 
our wrongs, and their system of oppression, strengthened 
by our toleration ; or, we must, "by opposing, end them." 

30 To the very last vote in Congress, we have kept this 
dreaded alternative from our minds, still clinging to the 



R. B. RHETT 47 

vain hope that some kindred feeling — some sense of 
constitutional justice, some spirit of forbearance and com- 
promise, such as influenced our fathers when acting 
together, and the framers of this Constitution, would 
secure us from this bitter emergency. But it has come, 5 
and we may not shrink in meeting it. 

In advising an attitude of open resistance to the laws 
of the Union, we deem it due to the occasion, and that 
we may not be misunderstood, distinctly, but briefly to 
state without argument, our constitutional faith. For it 10 
is not enough that imposts laid for the protection of 
domestic manufactures are oppressive, and transfer in 
their operation millions of our property to Northern 
capitalists. If we have given our bond, let them take our 
blood. Those who resist these imposts must deem them 15 
unconstitutional, and the principal is abandoned by a pay- 
ment of one cent, as much as ten millions. 

First. We believe, then, that the State of South Caro- 
lina, in entering into the Confederacy of the United States, 
was a sovereign State or Nation ; and retained all the 20 
powers not expressly granted to the Confederacy, or such 
as were "necessary and proper/' to carry the powers ex- 
pressly granted into operation. 

Second. We believe, as a corollary to this proposition, 
that the Constitution of the United States is one of express, 25 
limited, and specific powers ; and has no powers, but those 
contained upon the face of the charter. 

Third. We believe that the power to encourage do- 
mestic manufactures, by which one portion of the com- 
munity is made tributary to another, is neither amongst 30 
the express powers granted by this Constitution, nor is 



48 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

"necessary and proper" to carry any other expressly 
granted power into operation. 

Fourth. We believe that because commerce (with all 
the other great branches of industry) is incidentally 
5 affected and curtailed by laying imposts with a view to 
encourage domestic manufactures, that domestic manu- 
factures cannot be encouraged by imposts laid under the 
general power granted of regulating commerce. 

Fifth. We believe, that by the second clause of the 

10 tenth section of the first article of the Constitution, the 
power of fostering their manufactures by duties laid, is 
expressly given to the separate States, and consequently 
is as expressly denied to the general government. 

Such, fellow-citizens, on this subject, are our constitu- 

15 tional points of belief. We appeal confidently to the 
charter itself, and to the contemporaneous expositions of 
those who framed it, to justify our opinions. We can- 
not test their accuracy by a resort to our courts of justice ; 
for, with a timid fraud, well becoming the tyranny it 

20 covers, the Tariff Bill, upon its face, purports to be for 
revenue ; and of course, in a court of law, could only be 
judged of by its terms. But we are free to confess that, 
could the constitutional point in dispute be fairly made 
before our courts of justice, the decision of every court in 

25 the land, in favor of this masked oppression, could not 
convince our understandings of its constitutionality. It 
may obtain our submission, but never our conviction. 
According to our humble conceptions, the constitutional 
grounds upon which our fathers resisted the pretensions 

30 of the British Crown, are weak and trivial when compared 
with those upon which we now stand. 



R. B. RHETT 49 

The history of the Constitution of the United States is 
the old story of every constitution that was ever devised 
by man. We had once hoped for better things ; and, in 
the fondness of our weak idolatry, almost believed that 
wisdom surpassing man's had destined this Union for a 5 
duration approaching perpetuity. Although the Consti- 
tution contains, upon the face of it, the grant of every 
power that can be necessary to our foreign relations ; and 
by virtue of these powers, and these alone, for more than 
forty years has kept us in comparative prosperity, and 10 
lifted us to glory — yet the busy love of power has grown 
restless under its limitations, and would stretch them 
forth into indefinite and undefinable extension. Accord- 
ing to the pretensions of some, we have truly no Con- 
stitution. All the resources of this Union are under the 15 
control of Congress for internal regulation. All the 
property we possess, we hold by their boon; and a ma- 
jority in Congress may, at any moment, deprive us of it 
and transfer it northward, or offer it up on the bloody 
altar of a bigot's philanthropy. Usurpation has indeed 20 
followed usurpation. What was harmless innovation 
to-day, has become precedent to-morrow. Our very for- 
bearance and toleration has been considered as construc- 
tion; until, at last, this whole instrument, framed in the 
profoundest wisdom and the most jealous caution, is 25 
virtually abolished and merged in the powers broadly 
claimed "for the general welfare." 

Fellow-citizens ! There is no security for us as citizens 
of this Confederacy, unless we can bring back the general 
government to an administration of the Constitution in 30 
the spirit in which it was made. Under this Constitution 

E 



50 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

most of us have been born and live [and] under its govern- 
ment it is our most ardent aspiration to die. We have, 
indeed, been taught that it is our crowning Glory, — the 
pride of the New — the terror of the Old — and the 
5 admiration of the whole World : that property and life 
itself are but chiefly lost when lost beneath the Star- 
Spangled Banner of our common country. Have we not 
proved (if blood and treasure can prove it) that our 
attachment to the Union can only be limited by our 

10 superior attachment to our rights ; that our generous love 
for our brethren of this Confederacy can only be alienated 
by a course of long-continued and settled hostility ? Pre- 
vious to our Revolution, when the arm of oppression was 
stretched over New England, where did our Northern 

15 brethren meet with braver sympathy than that which 
sprang from the bosoms of Carolinians? We had no 
extortion — no oppression — no collision with the King's 
ministers — no navigation interests springing up in en- 
vious rivalry of England — no hired soldiery were billeted 

20 upon our citizens, or patroled our country, goading with 
mockery and insult the peaceful and unoffending yeoman 
to hatred and to rage. The blood shed at Bunker Hill 
was resented as our own ; and with simultaneous action 
we cast the sword's scabbard to the rust, and by their 

25 side assumed our stand, to live or perish together. We 
contributed one fifth of the whole revenue that supported 
the Revolutionary War, and suffered in that glorious 
struggle more than was ever told, or words can tell. The 
last war° was waged and maintained by us in the defense 

30 of Northern interests ; and, from the commencement of 
the Union to the present day, we have paid, propor- 



R. B. RHETT 51 

tionally, more revenue into the coffers of the general 
government than any single State of the Confederacy. 
Our politicians, in the fullness of their love and confidence, 
have been for surrendering up all to its discretion. 

Such is the tale of history. We have done these things 5 
from love to our brethren, and from our ardent attach- 
ment to the Constitution of these United States, in main- 
tenance of the great principles of liberty, not then, from 
a desire of disunion, or to destroy the Constitution, but 
it is that we may preserve the Union, and bring back the 10 
Constitution to its original uncorrupted principles, that 
we now advise you to resist its violation. From the rapid 
step of usurpation, whether we now act or not, the day 
of open opposition to the pretended powers of the Con- 
stitution cannot be far off: and it is that it may not go 15 
down in blood that we now call upon you to resist. We 
feel ourselves standing underneath its mighty protection, 
and declaring forth its free and recorded spirit, when we 
say we must resist. By all the great principles of liberty 
— by the glorious achievements of our Fathers in defend- 2 ° 
ing them — by their lives in suffering, and their deaths in 
honor and glory — our countrymen ! We must resist. 
Not secretly, as timid thieves, or skulking smugglers — 
not in companies or associations, like money-chaffers or 
stock-jobbers — not separately and individually, as if this 2 5 
was ours and not our country's cause — but openly, 
fairly, fearlessly, and unitedly, as becomes a free, 
sovereign, and independent people. Does timidity ask 
"when"? We answer now ! even now, while yet oppres- 
sion is not old to us, and the free spirit looks abroad in 3° 
pride over this land of glorious freedom, and, beautiful, 



52 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

though depressed and broken fertility. Let not time eat 
away our rights, and prescription plead your sanction to 
your ruin. As in those dark times "that tried men's 
souls," let us assemble in solemn convention or in legisla- 
5 ture ; and in firmness, but humility of spirit, rely upon 
that Providence who has hitherto protected us, to guide 
and direct our anxious councils. 

But if you are doubtful of yourselves — if you are not 
prepared to follow up your principles wherever they may 
10 lead, to their very last consequence — if you love life 
better than honor — prefer ease to perilous liberty and 
glory ; awake not ! stir not ! Impotent resistance will 
add vengeance to your ruin. Live in smiling peace with 
your insatiable oppressors, and die with the noble conso- 
ls lation that your submissive patience will survive trium- 
phant your beggary and despair. 



J. M. BERRIEN 

The Georgia Protest 

I am not willing, sir, to see an act so grave and interest- 
ing in its character, pass away with those mere everyday- 
events which are forgotten almost in the instant of their 
occurrence. In order, therefore, that it may be distinctly 
presented to the notice of the Senate, before I submit the 5 
motion which it calls for, I will state its purport, and avail 
myself of the occasion to make a very brief remark. 

That document, sir, of which an official copy has been 
transmitted to my colleague and myself, is the protest of 
the State of Georgia, made through her constitutional 10 
organs, to this assembly of the representatives of States, 
against the "act in alteration of the several acts laying 
duties on imports," passed at the late session of the Con- 
gress of the United States. In her sovereign character, 
as one of the original members of this Confederacy, by 15 
whom this government was called into existence, that 
State protests against this act, on the several grounds 
which are specifically set forth, in that instrument, which 
is attested by the signatures of her legislative and execu- 
tive functionaries, and authenticated under her public seal. 20 

It is now delivered to his department of the Federal 
government, to be deposited in its archives, in perpet- 
uam rei viemoriam° to serve whenever the occasion may 

53 



54 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

require it, as an authentic testimony of the solemn dissent 
of one of the sovereign States of this Union from the act 
therein protested against, as an infraction of the con- 
stitutional compact by which she is united to the other 
5 members of this Confederacy. 

It is difficult, sir, to repress — it is, perhaps, still more 
difficult appropriately to express the feelings which belong 
to such an occasion as the present. I have been edu- 
cated in sentiments of reverence for our Federal Union, 

10 and, through life, I have habitually cherished these senti- 
ments. As an individual citizen, therefore, it is painful 
to recur to that disastrous policy which has imposed on 
the State in which I live the stern necessity of assuming 
this relation to the government of this Confederacy. 

* 5 As one of the representatives on this floor of that State, 
whose citizens have always been forward to manifest a 
profound and devoted attachment to this Union — of a 
patriotic and gallant people, who would freely yield 
their treasure and unsparingly shed their blood in its 

20 defense; the occasion is one of deep and unmingled hu- 
miliation, which demands the deposit, in the registry of 
the Senate, of this record of their wrongs. There may be 
those, sir, who will look to this act with indifference, 
perhaps with levity ; who will consider it as the result of 

25 momentary excitement ; and see, or think they see in it, 
merely the effusion of impassioned, but evanescent feel- 
ing. I implore those gentlemen not to deceive them- 
selves on a subject in relation to which error may be alike 
dangerous to us all. 

3° Forty years of successful experiment have proved the 
efficiency of this government to sustain us in an honor- 



J. M. BERRIEN 55 

able intercourse with the other nations of the world. 
Externally, in peace and in war, amid the fluctuations of 
commerce, and the strife of arms, it has protected our 
interests, and defended our rights. One trial, one fearful 
trial, yet remains to be made. It is one, under the ap- 5 
prehension of which the bravest may tremble — which 
the wise and the good will anxiously endeavor to avoid. 
It is that experiment which shall test the competency of 
this government to preserve our internal peace, whenever 
a question vitally affecting the bond, which unites us as 10 
one people, shall come to be solemnly agitated between the 
sovereign members of this Confederacy. In proportion to 
its dangers should be our solicitude to avoid it, by abstain- 
ing on the one hand from acts of doubtful legislation, as 
well as by the manner of resistance on the other, to those 15 
which are deemed unconstitutional. Between the inde- 
pendent members of this Confederacy, sir, there can be 
no common arbiter. They are necessarily remitted to 
their own sovereign will, deliberately expressed, in the 
exercise of those reserved rights of sovereignty, the dele- 20 
gation of which would have been an act of political 
suicide. The designation of such an arbiter, sir, was, by 
the force of invincible necessity, casus omissus among 
the provisions of a constitution conferring limited powers, 
the interpretation of which was to be confided to the 25 
surbordinate agents, created by those who were intrusted 
to administer it. 

I earnestly hope, that the wise and conciliatory spirit 
of this government, and of those of the several States, 
will postpone, to a period far distant, the day which will 30 
summon us to so fearful a trial. If we are indeed doomed 



56 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

to encounter it, I as earnestly hope that it may be entered 
upon in the spirit of peace, and with cherished recollec- 
tions of former amity. But the occasion which shall 
impel the sovereign people of even one of the members of 
5 this Confederacy to resolve, that they are not bound by 
its acts, is one to which no patriot can look with levity, 
nor yet with indifference. Whatever men and freemen 
may do to avert it, the people of Georgia will do. Deeply 
as they feel the wrongs which they suffer, they will yet 

i°bear and forbear. Though their complaints have been 
hitherto disregarded, and their remonstrances have been 
heretofore set at nought, they will still look with confi- 
dence to the returning justice of this government. 

I fulfill my duty, sir, on this occasion, with a cherished 

is reliance on that justice ; with a deep and abiding convic- 
tion of the patriotism and forbearance of that people by 
whom it is demanded ; with a,n humble but unwavering 
trust in the mercy of Heaven. 



BENJAMIN WATKINS LEIGH 

The Apportionment of Representation 

... I have regard, especial regard, to the local inter- 
ests of my constituents. They sent me here for the very 
purpose that I might watch over them, guard, defend, 
and secure them, to the uttermost of my power. And, if 
I should disregard them, either through design or indo- 5 
lence, — if I were even to profess to have no regard for 
them, — it were better for me that I had never been 
born ) the contempt of some and the hate of others would 
pursue me through life ; and if I should fly for refuge to 
the remotest corners of the earth, conscience — Quis exul 10 
patria se quoque fugit° — conscience would still follow me 
with her whip of scorpions, and lash me to the grave. 

And now, sir, let me be distinctly understood. Attach- 
ment to this, my native State, to every foot of her soil, 
to every interest of all her citizens, has been my ruling 15 
passion from my j^outh — so strong that it is now (what 
all attachments to be useful to their objects must be) a 
prejudice — I hardly recollect the reasons on which it 
was founded. None that know me will doubt this. I 
foresaw, I foretold, this fearful, distracting conflict. 1 20 
looked to it with terror from the first, and I look to its 
consequences with horror now. I have trembled — I 

57 



58 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

have burned. I raised my Cassandra voice, to warn and 
to deprecate — if I had the strength to make it heard, I 
wanted weight of character to make it heeded. Never 
till then had I felt the want of political influence, or 
5 lamented that I had disdained the ordinary methods of 
acquiring it in my earlier years, though probably no 
efforts would have been successful. My feelings, my 
reason, my prejudices, my principles, all assure me that 
the dismemberment of the State must be fraught with 

10 cruel evils to us of the East, and still more cruel evils to 
our brethren of the West. Yet, sir — and the blood 
curdles in my veins while I make the avowal — I shall 
avow that the preservation of the commonwealth in its 
integrity is only the second wish of my heart : the first 

15 is that it may be preserved entire under a fair, equal, 
regular, republican government, founded in the great 
interests that are common to us all, and on a just balance 
of those interests that are conflicting. 

Sir, the resolution reported by the legislative com- 

20 mittee, in effect, proposes to divorce power from property 
— to base representation on numbers alone, though num- 
bers do not quadrate with property — though mountains 
rise between them — to transfer, in the course of a very 
few years, the weight of power over taxation and property 

25 to the West, though it be admitted, on all hands, that 
the far greater mass of property is now, and must still 
be held in the East. Power and property may be sepa- 
rated for a time, by force or fraud — but divorced, never. 
For, so soon as the pang of separation is felt — if there 

30 be truth in history, if there be any certainty in the ex- 
perience of ages, if all pretensions to knowledge of the 



BENJAMIN W ATKINS LEIGH 59 

human heart be not vanity and folly — property will 
purchase power, or power will take property. And either 
way, there must be an end of free government. If 
property buy power, the very process is corruption. If 
power ravish property, the sword must be drawn — so 5 
essential is property to the very being of civilized society, 
and so certain that civilized man will never consent to 
return to a savage state. Corruption and violence alike 
terminate in military despotism. All the republics in the 
world have died this death. In the pursuit of a wild 10 
impracticable liberty, the people have first become dis- 
gusted with all regular government, then violated the 
security of property which regular government alone can 
defend, and been glad at last to find a master. License 
is not liberty, but the bane of liberty. There is a book 15 
— but the author was a Tory, an English Tory, and he 
wrote before the American Revolution, so that I am 
almost afraid to refer to it — yet I will — there is an 
essay of Swift on the dissensions of Athens and Rome, 
in which the downfall of those republics is clearly traced 20 
to the same fatal error of placing power over property in 
different hands from those that held the property. The 
manner of doing the mischief there was the vesting of all 
the powers of judicature in the people; but no matter 
how the manner may be varied, the principle is the same. 25 
There has been no change in the natural feelings, passions, 
and appetites of men, any more than in their* outward 
form, from the days of Solon to those of George Wash- 
ington. Like political or moral causes put in action, have 
ever produced, and must forever produce, everywhere, like 30 
effects — in Athens, in Rome, in France, in America. 



60 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

The resolution of the legislative committee proposes to 
give to those who have comparatively little property 
power over those who have a great deal — to give to 
those who contribute the least, the power of taxation 
5 over those who contribute the most, to the public treasury 
— and (what seems most strange and incongruous) to 
give the power over numbers alone in that branch of the 
legislature which should be the especial guardian of 
property — in the revenue-giving branch. To my mind, 

iosir, the scheme is irreconcilable with the fundamental 
principle of representative government, and militates 
against its peculiar mode of operation, in producing 
liberty at first, and then nurturing, fostering, defending, 
and preserving it for a thousand years. My friend from 

15 Hanover (Mr. Morris) has already explained to the com- 
mittee how the institution of the House of Commons in 
England grew out of the necessities of the Crown to ask 
aids from the people. The free spirit of the Saxon laws, 
mingling with the sterner spirit of the feudal system, had 

20 decreed that property was sacred. The lawful preroga- 
tive of the Crown at no time extended to taxation; and 
if violence was sometimes resorted to, the supplies it col- 
lected were scant and temporary. Originally, the whole 
function of the House of Commons was to give money; 

2 5 but the money being theirs, it belonged to them to say 
when, how much, for what purpose, they would give it. 
From the first, and invariably to this day, the Commons 
have been the sole representative of property — the Lords 
never have been regarded in that light. And from this 

30 power of the Commons to give or withhold money, have 
sprung all the liberties of England — all that has distin- 



BENJAMIN W ATKINS LEIGH 61 

guished that nation from the other nations of Europe. 
They used their power over the purse to extort freedom 
from the necessities of the King, and then to secure and 
defend it; they made his ambition, his waste, his very 
vices, work in favor of liberty. Every spark of English 5 
liberty was kindled at that golden lamp. " I ask money," 
said the Crown, "money to resist or to conquer your 
enemies and mine." "Give us privileges, then," was the 
constant answer; "acknowledge and secure our rights; 
and in order to secure them, put them into our own 10 
keeping." 

Sir, I know it is the fashion to decry everything that 
is English, or supposed to be so; I know that in the 
opinion of many it is enough to condemn any proposition, 
in morals or in politics, to denounce it as English doc- 15 
trine ; but that is neither my opinion nor my feeling. I 
know well enough that the sentiment is unpopular; but 
I laid it down as a law to myself when I entered this 
convention, to conceal no feeling and no thought I enter- 
tain, and never to vary in the least from an exact exhibi- 20 
tion of my opinions, so far as it is in the power of words 
to paint the mind; and I have no hesitation in saying, 
in the face of the whole world, that the English govern- 
ment is a free government, and the English people a free 
people. I pray gentlemen to cast their eyes over the 25 
habitable globe, survey every form of civil government, 
examine the condition of every society, and point me out 
one, if they can, who has even so much as a conception, 
and much more the enjoyment, of civil liberty, in our sense 
of it, save only the British nation and their descendants. 30 
England was the inventor, the founder of that represen- 



62 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

tative government we so justly and so highly prize. I 
shall, therefore, study her institutions ; exercise my judg- 
ment in ascertaining what is vicious, or rotten, or un- 
suitable to our condition; and rejecting that, hold fast 
5 to all that is sound and wise and good, and proved by 
experience to be fit and capable to secure liberty and 
property; property, without which liberty can never 
exist, or if it could, would be valueless. Give me liberty 
in the English sense — liberty founded on law, and pro- 

10 tected by law ; no liberty held at the will of demagogue 
or tyrant, for I have no choice between them ; no liberty 
for me to prey on others; no liberty for others to prey 
on me. I want no French liberty — none ; a liberty 
which first attacked property, then the lives of its foes, 

15 then those of its friends ; which prostrated all religion 
and morals; set up nature and reason as goddesses to 
be worshiped; afterwards condescended to decree that 
there is a God ; and, at last, embraced iron despotism as 
its heaven-destined spouse. Sir, the true, the peculiar 

20 advantage of the principle of representative government 
is that it holds government absolutely dependent on 
individual property ; that it gives the owner of property 
an interest to watch the government; that it puts the 
purse strings in the hands of its owners. Leave those 

25 who are to contribute money to determine the measure 
and the object of contribution, and none will ever know- 
ingly give their money to destroy their own liberty. 
Give to those who are not to contribute the power to 
determine the measure and object of the contribution of 

30 others, and they may give it to destroy those from whom 
it is thus unjustly taken. From this false principle the 



BENJAMIN W ATKINS LEIGH 63 

scheme of representation in question is variant only in 
degree : it only proposes to give one portion of the people 
power to take three dollars from another for every dollar 
they contribute of their own. I say, therefore, that the 
plan is at war with the first principle of representatives 
government, and if it prevail must destroy it — how soon 
depends not on the wretched finite wisdom of man, but 
on the providence of God. 

******* 
It has pleased heaven to ordain that man shall enjoy 
no good without alloy. Its choicest bounties are not 10 
blessings unless the enjoyment of them be tempered with 
moderation. Liberty is only a mean: the end is happi- 
ness. It is, indeed, the wine of life ; but like other wines 
it must be used with temperance in order to be used 
with advantage : taken to excess, it first intoxicates, then 15 
maddens, and at last destroys. 



R. Y. HAYNE 

Inaugural Address 

Fellow-citizens of the Senate and House of Representatives : 

I appear before you in obedience to your commands, 

to enter upon the duties you have assigned me. The 

chief magistracy of South Carolina, at all times an office 

5 of high dignity and trust, has now assumed an impor- 
tance which might well induce the most highly gifted 
amongst us to hesitate in taking upon himself the fearful 
responsibility which belongs to it. Putting out of view 
the considerations which would have induced me at any 

10 time to desire to be excused from this service — a sincere 
distrust of my abilities to discharge in a satisfactory man- 
ner the various and trying duties which must at this 
momentous crisis devolve on the Executive, would have 
deterred me from making the attempt, but for the con- 

15 viction, that every man now owes a duty to his country 
which he is bound, at every sacrifice, to perform. Deeply 
sensible of the high honor conferred upon me, in being 
selected to preside over the destinies of the State at this 
interesting period, and feeling myself bound to defer to 

20 your judgment, I am constrained to yield an implicit 
obedience to the public will, officially made known to me 
through you. 

In taking this step I am fully aware of the difficulties 
64 



R. Y. HAYNE 65 

which are before me. In a period of intense excitement, 
threatened with dangers from without, and embarrassed 
by unhappy divisions at home, it belongs not to any 
wisdom of virtue, merely human, to reconcile conflicting 
opinions, harmonize discordant views, and meet the ex- 5 
pectations of the public. Emergencies will probably 
arise, concerning which opinions will be so divided, that 
act as he may, your chief magistrate will have to encounter 
the severest censure and reproach. Nevertheless I will 
not shrink from the task you have assigned me, but, io, 
relying with confidence on your cordial support, and on 
the wisdom and virtue, courage and patriotism, of the 
people, I will walk steadily forward in the path of duty, 
indulging the hope that our united efforts for the pro- 
motion of the welfare, honor, and safety of the State 15 
may be crowned with success. 

In the great struggle in which we are engaged, for the 
preservation of our rights and liberties, it is my fixed 
determination to assert and uphold the sovereign 
authority of the State, and to enforce, by all 20 
the means that may be intrusted to my hands, her 
sovereign will. I recognize no allegiance as para- 
mount to that which the citizens of South Carolina owe 
to the State of their birth, or their adoption. I here 
publicly declare, and wish it to be distinctly understood, 25 
that I shall hold myself bound by the highest of all obli- 
gations, to carry into full effect, not only the ordinance 
of the convention, but every act of the legislature, and 
every judgment of our own courts, the enforcement of 
which may devolve on the Executive. I claim no right 30 
to revise their acts. ' It will be my duty to execute them ; 



66 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

and that duty I mean, to the utmost of my power, faith- 
fully to perform. 

In the administration of the ordinary duties of my 
office it shall be my constant aim, and earnest endeavor, 
5 to reconcile discordant opinions — to allay party ani- 
mosities — and, as far as may be practicable, to bring 
all the citizens of Carolina to regard each other as breth- 
ren of one family. In the administration of our criminal 
code, I am firmly resolved to "execute justice"; but I 

10 shall endeavor to do so in the spirit of the Constitution, 
which instructs me that this shall be done "in mercy." 
I should despise myself, and feel that I was utterly un- 
worthy of public confidence, if I were not unalterably 
determined to perform this most painful part of my public 

15 duty without "fear, favor, or affection." The pure 
stream of public justice shall not be contaminated by 
personal feelings, or party animosities. 

And now, fellow-citizens, having thus frankly laid down 
the principles by which I intend to be governed, in the 

20 administration of the affairs of the State, let us look for- 
ward to the prospect before us, in order that we may 
be prepared to meet the crisis, as becomes men, firmly 
resolved to do our duty in every emergency. South 
Carolina, after ten years of unavailing petitions and re- 

25 monstrances, against a system of measures on the part 
of the Federal government, which in common with the 
other Southern States, — she has repeatedly declared, 
to be founded in Usurpation, utterly subversive of 
the rights, and fatal to the prosperity of her people, — 

30 has, in the face of the world, put herself upon her 
sovereignty, and made the solemn declaration that 



R. Y. HAYNE 67 

this system shall no longer be enforced within her limits. 
All hope of redress of this grievance, from a returning 
sense of justice on the part of our oppressors, or from any 
probable change in the policy of the government, having 
fled, nothing was left for South Carolina, but to throw 5 
herself upon her reserved rights, or to remain forever 
in a condition of " colonial vassalage." She has, therefore, 
resolved to stand upon her rights — and it is for her sister 
States, now, to determine what is to be done in this 
emergency. She has announced to them her anxious 10 
desire that this controversy shall be amicably adjusted, 
either by a satisfactory modification of the tariff, or by 
a reference of the whole subject to a convention of all the 
States. Should neither of these reasonable propositions 
be acceded to, then she will feel herself justified before 15 
God and man, in firmly maintaining the position she has 
assumed, until some other mode can be devised, for the 
removal of the difficulty. South Carolina is anxiously 
desirous of living at peace with her brethren — she has 
not the remotest wish to dissolve the political bands which 20 
have connected her with the great American family of 
confederated States. With Thomas Jefferson, "she would 
regard the dissolution of our union with them, as one 
of the greatest of evils — but not the greatest — there is 
one greater: submission to a government with- 25 
out limitation of powers"; and such a government 
she conscientiously believes will be our portion, should 
the system against which she is now struggling be finally 
established as the settled policy of the country. 

South Carolina is solicitous to preserve the CoNSTi-30 
tution, as our fathers framed it, — according to its 



68 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

true spirit, intent, and meaning, — but she is inflexibly 
determined, never to surrender her reserved rights, nor 
to suffer her constitutional compact to be converted into 
an instrument for the oppression of her citizens. - 
5 She cannot bring herself to believe that, standing as 
she does on the basis of the Constitution, and the immu- 
table principles of truth and justice, any attempt will be 
made by her confederate States, and least of all by the 
government which they have created, for special purposes, 

10 to reduce her to subjection by military force. A con- 
federacy of sovereign States, formed by the free consent 
of all, cannot possibly be held together by any other tie 
than mutual sympathies and common interest. The 
unhallowed attempt to cement the Union with the blood 

15 of our citizens (which if successful would reduce the free 
and sovereign States of this Confederacy to mere depend- 
ent provinces), South Carolina has solemnly declared, 
would be regarded by her as absolving her "from all 
further obligations to maintain or preserve her political 

20 connection with the people of the other States." The 
spirit of our free institutions, the very temper of the age, 
would seem to forbid the thought of an appeal to force, 
for the settlement of a constitutional controversy. If, 
however, we should be deceived in this reasonable ex- 

25 pectation — South Carolina, so far as her means extend, 
stands prepared to meet danger, and repel invasion, 
come from what quarter it may. She has warned her 
brethren of the inevitable consequences of an appeal to 
arms, and if she should be driven, in defense of her dearest 

30 rights, to resist aggression, let it be remembered that the 
innocent blood which may be shed in such a contest, 



B. Y. HAYNE^ 69 

will, in the great day of account, be required of those who 
shall persevere in the unhallowed attempt to exercise 
an "unwarrantable jurisdiction over us." 

If such, fellow-citizens, should be our lot, if the sacred 
soil of Carolina should be polluted by the footsteps of 5 
an invader, or be stained with the blood of her citizens, 
shed in her defense — I trust in Almighty God, that no 
son of hers, native or adopted, who has been nourished 
at her bosom, or been cherished by her bounty, will be 
found raising a parricidal arm against our common mother. 10 
And even should she stand alone in this great struggle 
for constitutional liberty, encompassed by her enemies, 
that there will not be found in the wide limits of the State 
one recreant son, who will not fly to the rescue, and be 
ready to lay down his life in her defense. 15 

South Carolina cannot be drawn down from the proud 
eminence on which she has now placed herself, except by 
the hands of her own children. Give her but a fair field 
and she asks no more. Should she succeed, hers will be 
glory enough to have led the way in the noble work of 20 
reform. And if after making those efforts due to her 
honor, and the greatness of the cause, she is destined 
utterly to fail, the bitter fruits of that failure, not to her- 
self alone, but to the entire South, nay, to the whole 
Union, will attest her virtue. The speedy establishment 25 
on the ruins of the rights of the States, and the liberties 
of the people, of a great consolidated government, 
"riding and ruling over the plundered plowman and beg- 
gared yeomanry " of our once happy land — our glorious 
Confederacy, broken into scattered and dishonored frag- 30 
ments — the lights of liberty extinguished, never, perhaps, 



70 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

to be relumed — these — these will be the melancholy 
memorials, of that wisdom, which saw the danger while 
yet at a distance, and of that patriotism which struggled 
gloriously to avert it; memorials, over which repentant, 
5 though unavailing, tears will assuredly be shed, by those 
who will discover, when too late, that they have suffered 
the last occasion to pass away, when the liberties of the 
country might have been redeemed, and the Union es- 
tablished upon a foundation as enduring as the everlasting 

10 rocks. 

We may live to witness these things. To some of us, 
it may not be allotted to survive the Republic. But, 
if we are only true to our duty, our example will, in that 
dark hour, be a rich legacy to our children — and which 

15 of us would desire a higher reward than to have it in- 
scribed upon his tomb — "here lies the man who sacrificed 
himself in a noble effort to rescue the Constitution from 
violation, and to restore the liberties of his country"? 
Fellow-citizens, this is "our own, our native land"; 

20 it is the soil of Carolina, which has been enriched 
by the precious blood of our ancestors, shed in de- 
fense of those rights and liberties, which we are bound 
by every tie, divine and human, to transmit unimpaired 
to our posterity. It is here that we have been cherished 

25 in youth and sustained in manhood, by the generous con- 
fidence of our fellow-citizens; here repose the honored 
bones of our fathers; here the eyes of our children first 
beheld the light; and here, when our earthly pilgrimage 
is over, we hope to sink to rest, on the bosom of our com- 

30 mon mother. Bound to our country by such sacred and 
endearing ties, let others desert her if they can ; let them 



B. Y. HAYNE 71 

revile her if they will ; let them give aid and countenance 
to her enemies, if they may; but for us, we will stand 

OR FALL WITH CAROLINA. 

God grant that the wisdom of your councils, sustained 
by the courage and patriotism of our people, may crown 5 
our efforts for the preservation of our liberties with 
triumphant success. But if in the inscrutable purposes of 
an all-wise Providence, it should be otherwise decreed, 
let us be prepared to do our duty in every emergency. 

If assailed by violence from abroad, and deserted by 10 
those to whom she has a right to look for support, our 
beloved State is to be "humbled in dust and ashes," 
before the footstool of the oppressor, we shall not rejoice 
in her humiliation, nor join in the exultation of her enemies, 
but in adversity as in prosperity, in weal and in woe, 15 
"through good report and evil report," we will go for 
Carolina. 

And now, fellow-citizens, offering up my most fervent 
prayers to Him in whose hands are the destinies of nations, 
that He will prosper all your measures, and have our 20 
whole country "in His holy keeping," I am ready, 
in the solemn form prescribed by the Constitution, to 
dedicate myself to the service of the State. 



J. C. CALHOUN 

The Force Bill and Nullification 

The very point at issue between the two parties there is, 
whether nullification is a peaceable and an efficient remedy 
against an unconstitutional act of the general government, 
and which may be asserted as such through the State 

5 tribunals. Both parties agree that the acts against 
which it is directed are unconstitutional and oppressive. 
The controversy is only as to the means by which our 
citizens may be protected against the acknowledged 
encroachments on their rights. This being the point at 

10 issue between the parties, and the very object of the ma- 
jority being an efficient protection of the citizens through 
the State tribunals, the measures adopted to enforce the 
ordinance, of course, received the most decisive character. 
We were not children, to act by halves. Yet for acting 

15 thus efficiently the State is denounced, and this bill re- 
ported, to overrule, by military force, the civil tribunals 
and civil process of the State ! Sir, I consider this bill, 
and the arguments which have been urged on this floor 
in its support, as the most triumphant acknowledgment 

20 that nullification is peaceful and efficient, and so deeply 
intrenched in the principles of our system that it cannot 
be assailed but by prostrating the Constitution, and 
substituting the supremacy of military force in lieu of 

72 



J. C. CALHOUN 73 

the supremacy of the laws. In fact, the advocates of 
this bill refute their own argument. They tell us that 
the ordinance is unconstitutional; that they infract the 
constitution of South Carolina, although, to me, the 
objection appears absurd, as it was adopted by the very 5 
authority which adopted the Constitution itself. They 
also tell us that the Supreme Court is the appointed 
arbiter of all controversies between a State and the 
general government. Why, then, do they not leave this 
controversy to that tribunal ? Why do they not confide 10 
to them the abrogation of the ordinance, and the laws 
made in pursuance of it, and the assertion of that su- 
premacy which they claim for the laws of Congress? 
The State stands pledged to resist no process of the court. 
Why, then, confer on the President the extensive and 15 
unlimited powers provided in this bill? Why authorize 
him to use military force to arrest the civil process of the 
State ? But one answer can be given : That, in a contest 
between the State and the general government, if the 
resistance be limited on both sides to the civil process, 20 
the State, by its inherent sovereignty, standing upon its 
reserved powers, will prove too powerful in such a con- 
troversy, and must triumph over the Federal government, 
sustained by its delegated and limited authority; and in 
this answer we have an acknowledgment of the truth 25 
of those great principles for which the State has so firmly 
and nobly contended. 

Having made these remarks, the great question is now 
presented, Has Congress the right to pass this bill? which 
I will next proceed to consider. The decision of this 3° 
question involves the inquiry into the provisions of the 



74 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

bill. What are they? It puts at the disposal of the 
President the army and navy, and the entire militia 
of the country; it enables him, at his pleasure, to subject 
every man in the United States, not exempt from militia 
5 duty, to martial law : to call him from his ordinary occu- 
pation to the field, and under the penalty of fine and im- 
prisonment, inflicted by a court-martial, to compel him 
to imbrue his hand in his brothers' blood. There is no 
limitation on the power of the sword, and that over the 

10 purse is equally without restraint; for, among the ex- 
traordinary features of the bill, it contains no appropria- 
tion, which, under existing circumstances, is tantamount 
to an unlimited appropriation. The President may, 
under its authority, incur any expenditure, and pledge 

15 the national faith to meet it. He may create a new 
national debt, at the very moment of the termination of 
the former — a debt of millions, to be paid out of the 
proceeds of the labor of that section of the country 
whose dearest constitutional rights this bill prostrates ! 

20 Thus exhibiting the extraordinary spectacle, that the 
very section of the country which is urging this measure, 
and carrying the sword of devastation against us, is at 
the same time, incurring a new debt, to be paid by those 
whose rights are violated ; while those who violate them 

25 are to receive the benefits, in the shape of bounties and 
expenditures. 

And for what purpose is the unlimited control of the 
purse and of the sword thus placed at the disposition of 
the Executive ? To make war against one of the free and 

30 sovereign members of this confederation, which the bill 
proposes to deal with, not as a State, but as a collection 



J. C. CALHOUN 75 

of banditti or outlaws. Thus exhibiting the impious 
spectacle of this government, the creature of the States, 
making war against the power to which it owes its existence. 
The bill violates the Constitution, plainly and palpably, 
in many of its provisions, by authorizing the President, 5 
at his pleasure, to place the different ports of this Union 
on an unequal footing, contrary to that provision of the 
Constitution which declares that no preference shall be 
given to one port over another. It also violates the 
Constitution by authorizing him, at his discretion, to 10 
impose cash duties on one port, while credit is allowed 
in others; by enabling the President to regulate com- 
merce, a power vested in Congress alone ; and by drawing 
within the jurisdiction of the United States courts powers 
never intended to be conferred on them. As great as 15 
these objections are, they become insignificant in the 
provisions of a bill which, by a single blow — by treating 
the States as a mere lawless mass of individuals — pros- 
trates all the barriers of the Constitution. I will pass over 
the minor considerations, and proceed directly to the 20 
great point. This bill proceeds on the ground that the 
entire sovereignty of this country belongs to the American 
people, as forming one great community, and regards 
the States as mere fractions or counties, and not as an 
integral part of the Union : having no more right to resist 25. 
the encroachments of the government than a county has 
to resist the authority of a State ; and treating such re- 
sistance as the lawless acts of so many individuals, with- 
out possessing sovereignty or political rights. It has 
been said that the bill declares war against South Carolina. 3° 
No. It decrees a massacre of her citizens ! War has 



76 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

something ennobling about it, and, with all its horrors, 
brings into action the highest qualities, intellectual and 
moral. It was, perhaps, in the order of Providence that 
it should be permitted for that very purpose. But this 
5 bill declares no war, except, indeed, it be that which 
savages wage — a 'war, not against the community, but 
the citizens of whom that community is composed. But 
I regard it as worse than savage warfare — as an attempt 
to take away life under the color of law, without the 

10 trial by jury, or any other safeguard which the Constitution 
has thrown around the life of the citizen ! It authorizes 
the President, or even his deputies, when they may sup- 
pose the lav/ to be violated, without the intervention of 
a court or jury, to kill without mercy or discrimination ! 

T 5 It has been, said by the senator from Tennessee (Mr. 
Grundy) to be a measure of peace ! Yes, such peace as 
the wolf gives to the lamb — the kite to the dove ! Such 
peace as Russia gives to Poland, or death to its victim ! 
A peace, by extinguishing the political existence of the 

20 State, by awing her into an abandonment of the exercise 
of every power which constitutes her a sovereign com- 
munity. It is to South Carolina a question of self-pres- 
ervation; and I proclaim it, that, should this bill pass, 
and an attempt be made to enforce it, it will be resisted, 

25 at every hazard — even that of death itself. Death is 
not the greatest calamity; there are others still more 
terrible to the free and brave, and among them may be 
placed the loss of liberty and honor. There are thousands 
of her brave sons who, if need be, are prepared cheerfully 

30 to lay down their lives in defense of the State, and the 
great principles of constitutional liberty for which she is 



J. C. CALHOUN 77 

contending. God forbid that this should become neces- 
sary ! It never can be, unless this government is resolved 
to bring the question to extremity, when her gallant sons 
will stand prepared to perform the last duty — to die nobly. 

Notwithstanding all that has been said, I must say that 5 
neither the senator from Delaware (Mr. Clayton), nor any 
other who has spoken on the same side, has directly and 
fairly met the great questions at issue : Is this a Federal 
Union? a Union of States, as distinct from that of in- 
dividuals ? Is the sovereignty in the several States, or in 10 
the American people in the aggregate? The very lan- 
guage which we are compelled to use, when speaking of 
our political institutions, affords proof conclusive as to its 
real character. The terms " union," " federal," " united," 
all imply a combination of sovereignties, a confederation 15 
of States. They are never applied to an association of 
individuals. Who ever heard of the United State of 
New York, of Massachusetts, or of Virginia? Who ever 
heard the term " federal" or " union" applied to the aggrega- 
tion of individuals into one community ? Nor is the other 20 
point less clear — that the sovereignty is in the several 
States, and that our. system is a union of twenty-four 
sovereign powers, under a constitutional compact, and 
not of a divided sovereignty between the States severally 
and the United States. In spite of all that has been said, 25 
I maintain that sovereignty is in its nature indivisible. 
It is the supreme power in a State, and we might just as 
well speak of half a square, or half of a triangle, as of half 
a sovereignty. It is a gross error to confound the exercise 
of sovereign powers with sovereignty itself, or the delega- 30 



78 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

Hon of such powers with a surrender of them. A sovereign 
may delegate his powers to be exercised by as many agents 
as he may think proper, under such conditions and with 
such limitations as he may impose ; but to surrender any 
5 portion of his sovereignty to another is to annihilate the 
whole. The senator from Delaware (Mr. Clayton) calls 
this metaphysical reasoning, which, he says, he cannot 
comprehend. If by metaphysics he means that scholastic 
refinement which makes distinctions without difference, 

10 no one can hold it in more utter contempt than I do ; but 
if, on the contrary, he means the power of analysis and 
• combination — that power which reduces the most com- 
plex idea into its elements, which traces^ causes to their 
first principle, and, by the power of generalization and 

15 combination, unites the whole in one harmonious system 
— then, so far from deserving contempt, it is the highest 
attribute of the human mind. It is the power which 
raises man above the brute — which distinguishes his 
faculties from mere sagacity, which he holds in common 

20 with inferior animals. It is this power which has raised 
the astronomer from being a mere gazer at the stars to 
the high intellectual eminence of a Newton or Laplace, 
and astronomy itself from a mere observation of insulated 
facts into that noble science which displays to our admira- 

25 tion the system of the universe. And shall this high 
power of the mind, which has effected such wonders when 
directed to the laws which control the material world, 
be forever prohibited, under a senseless cry of metal 
physics, from being applied to the high purpose of political 

30 science and legislation? I hold them to be subject to 
laws, as fixed as matter itself, and to be as fit a subject 



J. C. CALHOUN 79 

for the application of the highest intellectual power. 
Denunciation may, indeed, fall upon the philosophical 
inquirer into these first principles, as it did upon Galileo 
and Bacon when they first unfolded the great discoveries 
which have immortalized their names ; but the time will 5 
come when truth will prevail in spite of prejudice and 
denunciation, and when politics and legislation will be 
considered as much a science as astronomy and chemistry. 

In connection with this part of the subject, I understood 
the senator from Virginia (Mr. Rives) to say that sover- 10 
eignty was divided, and that a portion remained with 
the States severally, and that the residue was vested in 
the Union. By Union, I suppose the senator meant the 
United States. If such be his meaning — if he intended 
to affirm that the sovereignty was in the twenty-four 15 
States, in whatever light he may view them, our opinions 
will not disagree; but, according to my conception, the 
whole sovereignty is in the several States, while the ex- 
ercise of sovereign powers is divided — a part being 
exercised under compact, through this general govern- 20 
ment, and the residue through the separate State govern- 
ments. But if the senator from Virginia (Mr. Rives) 
means to assert that the twenty-four States form but 
one community, with a single sovereign power as to the 
objects of the Union, it will be but the revival of the old 25 
question, of whether the Union is a union between States, 
as distinct communities, or a mere aggregate of the Ameri- 
can people, as a mass of individuals; and in this light 
his opinions would lead directly to consolidation. 

But to return to the bill. It is said that the bill ought 30 
to pass, because the law must be enforced. The law 



80 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

must be enforced. The imperial edict must be executed. 
It is under such sophistry, couched in general terms, 
without looking to the limitations which must ever exist 
in the practical exercise of power, that the most cruel 
5 and despotic acts ever have been covered. It was such 
sophistry as this that cast Daniel into the lion's den, and 
the three Innocents into the fiery furnace. Under the 
same sophistry the bloody edicts of Nero and Caligula 
were executed. The law must be enforced. Yes, the 

10 act imposing the "tea-tax must be executed." This was 
the very argument which impelled Lord North and his 
administration in that mad career which forever separated 
us from the British crown. Under a similar sophistry, 
"that religion must be protected," how many massacres 

15 have been perpetrated ? and how many martyrs have been 
tied to the stake? What! acting on this vague abstrac- 
tion, are you prepared to enforce a law without considering 
whether it be just or unjust, constitutional or uncon- 
stitutional ? Will you collect money when it is acknowl- 

20 edged that it is not wanted ? He who earns the money, 
who digs it from the earth with the sweat of his brow, 
has a just title to it against the universe. No one has a 
right to touch it without his consent except his govern- 
ment, and it only to the extent of its legitimate wants; 

25 to take more is robbery, and you propose by this bill to 
enforce robbery by murder. Yes: to this result you 
must come, b}^ this miserable sophistry, this vague ab- 
straction of enforcing the law, without a regard to the 
fact whether the law be just or unjust, constitutional 

30 or unconstitutional. 

In the same spirit, we are told that the Union must be 



J. C. CALHOUN 81 

preserved, without regard to the means. And how is it 
proposed to preserve the Union ? By force ! Does any 
man in his senses believe that this beautiful structure — 
this harmonious aggregate of States, produced by the 
joint consent of all — can be preserved by force? Its 5 
very introduction will be certain destruction of this 
Federal Union. No, no. You cannot keep the States 
united in their constitutional and Federal bonds by force. 
Force may, indeed, hold the parts together, but such union 
would be the bond between master and slave : a union of 10 
exaction on one side, and of unqualified obedience on the 
other. That obedience which, we are told by the senator 
from Pennsylvania (Mr. Wilkins), is the Union! Yes, 
exaction on the side of the master; for this very bill is 
intended to collect what can be no longer called taxes, — 15 
the voluntary contribution of a free people, — but tribute — 
tribute to be collected under the mouths of the cannon ! 
Your customhouse is already transferred to a garrison, 
and that garrison with its batteries turned, not against the 
enemy of your country, but on subjects (I will not say 20 
citizens), on whom you propose to levy contributions. 
Has reason fled from our borders? Have we ceased to 
reflect ? It is madness to suppose that the Union can be 
preserved by force. I tell you plainly, that the bill, 
should it pass, cannot be enforced. It will prove only a 25 
blot upon your statute-book, a reproach to the year, and 
a disgrace to the American Senate. I repeat that it will 
not be executed : it will rouse the dormant spirit of the 
people, and open their eyes to the approach of despotism. 
The country has sunk into avarice and political corruption, 30 
from which nothing can arouse it but some measure, on 

G 



82 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

the part of the government, of folly and madness, such as 
that now under consideration. 

Disguise it as you may, the controversy is one between 
power and liberty ; and I will tell the gentlemen who are 
5 opposed to me, that, as strong as may be the love of power 
on their side, the love of liberty is still stronger on ours. 
History furnishes many instances of similar struggles 
where the love of liberty has prevailed against power under 
every disadvantage, and among them few more striking 

10 than that of our own Revolution ; where, as strong as was 
the parent country, and feeble as were the colonies, yet, 
under the impulse of liberty, and the blessing of God, they 
gloriously triumphed in the contest. There are, indeed, 
many and striking analogies between that and the present 

15 controversy : they both originated substantially in the 
same cause, with this difference, that, in the present case, 
the power of taxation is converted into that of regulating 
industry; in that, the power of regulating industry, by 
the regulation of commerce, was attempted to be con- 

20 verted into the power of taxation. Were I to trace the 
analogy farther, we should find that the perversion of 
the taxing power, in one case, has given precisely the same 
control to the Northern section over the industry of the 
Southern section of the Union, which the power to regu- 

25 late commerce gave to Great Britain over the industry of 
the colonies; and, that the very articles in which the 
colonies were permitted to have a free trade, and those 
in which the mother country had a monopoly, are almost 
identically the same as those in which the Southern States 

3° are permitted to have a free trade by the act of 1832, and 
in which the Northern States have, by the same act, 



J. a CALHOUN 83 

secured a monopoly : the only difference is in the means. 
In the former, the colonies were permitted to have a free 
trade with all countries south of Cape Finisterre, a cape 
in the northern part of Spain; while north of that the 
trade of the colonies was prohibited, except through the 5 
mother country, by means of her commercial regulations. 
If we compare the products of the country north and south 
of Cape Finisterre, we shall find them almost identical 
with the list of the protected and unprotected articles 
contained in the act of last year. Nor does the analogy 10 
terminate here. The very arguments resorted to at the com- 
mencement of the American Revolution, and the measures 
adopted, and the motives assigned to bring on that contest 
(to enforce the law), are almost identically the same. 

But to return from this digression to the consideration 15 
of the bill. Whatever difference of opinion may exist 
upon other points, there is one on which I should suppose 
there can be none : that this bill rests on principles which, 
if carried out, will ride over State sovereignties, and that 
it will be idle for any of its advocates hereafter to talk 20 
of State rights. The senator from Virginia (Mr. Rives) 
says that he is the advocate of State rights ; but he must 
permit me to tell him that, although he may differ in 
premises from the other gentlemen with whom he acts 
on this occasion, yet in supporting this bill he obliterates 25 
every vestige of distinction between him and them, saving 
only that, professing the principles of '98,° his example 
will be more pernicious than that of the most open and 
bitter opponents of the rights of the States. I will also 
add, what I am compelled to say, that I must consider 30 
him (Mr. Rives) as less consistent than our old opponents, 



84 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

whose conclusions were fairly drawn from their premises, 
while his premises ought to have led him to opposite 
conclusions. The gentleman has told us that the new- 
fangled doctrines, as he chooses to call them, have brought 
5 State rights into disrepute. I must tell him, in reply, 
that what he calls new-fangled are but the doctrines of 
'98; and that it is he (Mr. Rives), and others with him, 
who, professing these doctrines, have degraded them by 
explaining away their meaning and efficacy. He (Mr. R.) 

iohas disclaimed, in behalf of Virginia, the authorship of 
nullification. I will not dispute that point. If Virginia 
chooses to throw away one of her brightest ornaments, 
she must not hereafter complain that it has become the 
property of another. But while I have, as a representa- 

15 tive of Carolina, no right to complain of the disavowal 
of the senator from Virginia, I must believe that he 
(Mr. R.) has done his native State great injustice by 
declaring on this floor that, when she gravely resolved, 
in ; 98, that, "in cases of deliberate and dangerous in- 

20 fractions of the Constitution, the States, as parties to. 
the compact, have the right, and are in duty bound, to 
interpose to arrest the progress of the evil, and to main- 
tain within their respective limits the authorities, rights, 
and liberties appertaining to them," she meant no more 

25 than to ordain the right to protest and to remonstrate. 
To suppose that, in putting forth so solemn a declaration, 
which she afterward sustained by so able and elaborate 
an argument, she meant no more than to assert what 
no one had ever denied, would be to suppose that the 

3° State had been guilty of the most egregious trifling that 
ever was exhibited on so solemn an occasion. 



GEORGE McDUFFIE 

On the Power of the Executive 

I have thus endeavored to expose this novel and alarm- 
ing theory of executive power, which I fear will be speedily 
consummated in a consolidated despotism concentrated 
in a single person ; and I now propose to examine briefly 
what has been the practical exposition of it furnished 5 
by the present Executive. We often look without appre- 
hension upon the most dangerous pretensions and practices, 
when upon a closer scrutiny we perceive the latent prin- 
ciple which had before escaped us. I make this remark 
in reference to one of the positions assumed by the Pres- 10 
ident, in the manifesto he addressed to the people of 
the United States on the occasion of the removal of the 
deposites, — the position is, that the people of the United 
States by the mere act of reelecting him, have authori- 
tatively decided that it is unconstitutional and inex- 15 
pedient to recharter the Bank of the United States ; and 
basing himself on this decision, without deigning to consult 
the legislature, the only power under the Constitution 
which is competent to make such a decision, he forth- 
with proceeds, by his own authority, to execute what he 20 
assumes to be the will of the people constitutionally ex- 
pressed, and of consequence the supreme law of the land. 
Simple as this reasoning and assumption may at the first 

85 



86 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

glance appear, I venture the opinion that it is one of the 
most profound and artful contrivances ever invented 
by the genius of usurpation to disguise its design and 
cover its approaches. Examine its philosophy, resolve 
5 it into its elements, and what can you make of it but a new 
and more direct highway to unlimited power, than any 
heretofore discovered, by substituting the will of the Presi- 
dent for the will of the people. — This is truly an age of 
improvement, and in nothing is it more strikingly illustrated 

10 than in the improved process of stealing power from the 
people. This one is distinguished for its directness and 
simplicity; whereas the usurpers of other times have 
been compelled to make their approaches against the 
fortress of liberty by the slow process of opening trenches 

15 and advancing under their cover. In other countries 
the difficulty has been to obtain the votes of the people 
to sanction the assumption of the kingly office. Here, 
under our elective system, it is easy to obtain the chief 
executive office, but the difficulty is to make its power 

20 unlimited, by breaking loose from the inconvenient re- 
straints of the Constitution and the laws. The present 
chief magistrate has most dexterously surmounted this 
difficulty ; for if you will admit his position, he will never 
be at a loss to make his sovereign will the paramount law, 

25 to be executed "as he understands it." What is the 
argument it involves? 

That the people of the United States, by reelecting 
Andrew Jackson, have adopted and ratified all of his 
known political opinions as their own ; thus enacting 

30 laws and regulating the great question of banking and 
currency, without the troublesome machinery of the 



GEORGE MCDUFFIE 87 

legislative department! Yes, sir, these most difficult 
and delicate of all the appropriate subjects of legislation 
have, with the public treasury, been seized upon by the 
President, and are now notoriously regulated by his will ! 
But this is not the worst view of the matter. Admitting 5 
for a moment the constitutional right of the President, ' 
thus to collect the sovereign will of the people on a subject 
of legislation, the present is a gross misapplication of his 
own doctrine. He never sent a message to Congress on 
the subject of the bank in which he did not hold out the 10 
hope that he would sign an act of recharter, with modi- 
fications. In every instance his objections were to the 
bank "as at present organized," which was saying by 
implication that he would sanction the institution, if 
differently organized. And in the message immediately 15 
preceding his reelection, he leaves " the subject to the in- 
vestigation of an enlightened people and their repre- 
sentatives." And yet he is scarcely warm in his seat 
when he turns round and gravely informs us, " now that 
the people have sustained the President — it is too late," 20 
he confidently thinks, to say that the question has not 
been decided. Whatever may be the opinion of others, the 
President considers his reelection as a decision of the people 
against the bank. "He was sustained by a just people, and 
he desires to evince his gratitude by carrying into effect their 25 
decision, as far as depends upon him." As far as depends 
upon him ! a very useless qualification under this new- 
fangled executive theory and practice. But, sir, was ever 
power usurped under mere frivolous and fraudulent pre- 
tenses, with humbler words or a bolder hand ? It is almost 30 
in the very language of a precedent familiar to us all : — 



88 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

"Thanks, gentle citizens and friends ; 
This general applause and cheerful shout, 
Argues your wisdom and your love for Richard." 

But this spirit of executive assumption seems to have 
5 infected even the most insignificant of the "instruments" 
of the Chief Magistrate. Even the government directors 
of the bank, swelling like the frogs in the fable, claim a 
participation in this royal prerogative of personating 
the majesty and speaking the voice of the people. Listen 

10 to their audacious language: "Paying no sort of respect 
to the exalted public sources whence their appointment 
immediately emanates, the bank has the boldness to claim 
coequality with the nation, to disregard the organs and 
representatives of the people ! Coequality with the na- 

15 tion ! we the people ! " Such are the modest pretensions of 

executive spies and informers. What is to come next, 

as the fruit of those extraordinary executive doctrines? 

Mr. Speaker, the most alarming, and to me the most 

distressing, symptoms of the times, is the influence of the 

20 executive power over the members of the national 
legislature, and the new doctrines of the allegiance of the 
representatives of the people to the President, now openly 
avowed. At an early period of the session, I read with 
some surprise, in certain political journals which usually 

2 5 speak by authority, the avowal of the doctrine that the 
members of this House, come here, not to represent the 
people, but to support the administration right or wrong, 
in all things; in other words, to represent the will and 
obey the orders of the President. I did not, then, expect 

30 what I have since had the pain of witnessing, the promul- 



GEORGE MCDUFFIE 89 

gation of the same doctrine from places of high authority, 
from the seat of legislation, in both wings of the Capitol. 
Sir, what are we ? where are we ? Are we the representa- 
tives of the people, clothed with a high trust to be ex- 
ercised for their benefit, and under an exclusive responsi- 5 
bility to them, or are we feudal vassals, bound by a tie 
or party allegiance to the President, mere "liegemen of 
the Dane ?" Are we, like the Parliaments of France 
under the ancient dynasty, summoned here to attend a 
royal "bed of justice," and to register, by compulsion, 10 
the royal edicts and manifestoes? If these are our ap- 
propriate functions, why stand we here prating about the 
Constitution, the rights of legislature, and the custody 
of the public treasure? If we have lost the substance 
of liberty, I say down with the idle and unsubstantial 15 
pageantry of its forms. Why keep up the delusive mockery 
of a legislative department, when it serves only as a mask 
for that despotic power which controls everything, and as 
a memorial to remind us of our own degeneracy ? Let us 
rather conform to our own condition, by obeying that 20 
imperial mandate which was first issued in the City of 
New York, some months since, through one of the ex- 
ecutive organs, — "pass the appropriation bills and go 
home," leaving the people, in the extremity of their 
distresses, to the tender mercies of the President and his 25 
privy counselors ! Aye, sir, grease the wheels of the 
Car of Juggernaut — enrich the shrine of your idol — 
and when you have performed these ministerial offices 
of priestly devotion, go home, and tell your miserable 
and ruined constituents to prostrate themselves upon the 30 
mighty pageant, and offer up the incense of their expiring 



90 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

hosannahs to the god of their idolatry, while his fatal car 
is crushing them into the earth, and mingling their blood 
with the dust, and the whole pandemonium of false and 
treacherous counselors who have deceived him by their 
5 flattering sorceries, and ruined the country by their in- 
fernal machinations, are laughing at the agonizing dis- 
tresses, and reveling in the spoils of a people, whose hopes 
he has disappointed, whose sacred rights he has violated, 
and whose vital interests he has betrayed, and whose 

10 constitutional liberties he has trampled in the dust ! 

We are not, indeed, without some very significant 
indications, that this royal mandate will be executed by 
the prerogative of prorogation. It has evidently been 
the subject of grave deliberation, in that secret consistory 

15 where such high matters are usually decided. And as 
I feel — like one who, about to retire from the stage, has 
a natural anxiety that his last act in the drama should 
be decently performed — I must ask it as a personal 
favor, that if we are to be prorogued by the President, 

20 the act may be performed with becoming solemnity, and 
according to the most approved historical precedents. 

I shall now proceed to furnish such a precedent, and I 
trust the friends of the President will appreciate the feel- 
ings of kindness in which it is done. I quote from every 

25 high authority, sir ; no less than that of the Lord Protector 
Cromwell. He had organized his first Parliament, as 
he supposed, in such a manner as to be sure of a majority 
for any project of the court. But, although his returning 
officers had taken care to give him a majority at the 

30 commencement of the session, yet the spirit of liberty 
so far prevailed over the spirit of personal allegiance, 



GEORGE MCDUFFIE 91 

as to throw him into a minority in the progress of the 
session. Finding the majority inaccessible to fear or 
persuasion, the historian records that "he summoned 
the House to meet him in the painted chamber. (We 
shall be summoned, I suppose, to the East Room, scarcely 5 
less celebrated.) Displeasure and contempt were marked 
in his countenance. (A very natural prelude to what 
follows.) They appeared there, he observed, with the 
Speaker at their head, as a House of Parliament. Yet 
what had they done as a Parliament ? He never had 10 
played, he never would play, the orator ; and, therefore, 
he would tell them frankly (Cromwell was a frank man, too, 
sir) that they had done nothing. For five months they 
had passed no bill (our time is not yet out), had made no 
address, had held no communication with him. As 15 
far as concerned them, he had nothing to do but to pray 
that God would enlighten their minds. But had they 
done nothing ? Yes ; they had encouraged the cavaliers 
to plot against the Commonwealth, and the levelers to 
intrigue with the cavaliers. (The coalition between the 20 
Nullifiers and national Republicans is here evidently fore- 
told.) By their dissension they had aided the fanatics 
to throw the nation into confusion, and by the slowness 
of their proceedings had compelled the soldiers to live at 
free quarters on the country. (Here General Jackson 25 
could give Cromwell a lesson. Why did he not seize upon 
the deposites?) It was supposed that he would not be 
able to raise money without the aid of Parliament. But 
he had been inured to difficulties, and had never found 
God wanting, when he trusted in Him. (Almost the 30 
very language of the manifesto.) The country would 



92 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

willingly pay on account of the necessity. But was the 
necessity of his creation? No; it was of God; the con- 
sequence of God's providence. It was no marvel, if men 
who lived on their masses and service books, their dead 

5 and carnal worship, were strangers to the works of God ; 
but for those who had been instructed by the spirit of 
God, to adopt the same language, and say that men were 
the cause of those things, when God had done them, this 
was more than the Lord would bear. But that he might 

10 trouble them no longer, it was his duty to tell them that 
their continuance was not for the benefit of the nation, 
and therefore, he did, then and there, declare that he 
dissolved the Parliament." This is the manner in which 
Cromwell got rid of the troublesome incumbrance of an 

15 independent Parliament. 

But to be serious, sir, I, for one, am not disposed to ad- 
journ before something effectual is done to relieve the 
country from its distresses, and I will not do so with my 
own consent, even to avoid the fate of Cromwell's Parlia- 

20 ment. In the present calamitous condition of the country, 
we have a melancholy exemplification to prove how small 
a share of human wisdom is requisite to produce the 
greatest conceivable extent of human misery. The 
merest pygmy, armed with a scepter, can destroy in a single 

25 day the great fabric of a nation's prosperity, which all 
the intellectual giants of the land cannot rebuild in a long 
and laborious course of years. I will not tell the people 
to look for salvation to those who have involved them in 
this calamity. No, sir, this storm has been produced by 

30 a species of necromancy, which is endowed only with the 
faculty of mischief, and which, having raised the elements, 



GEORGE MCDUFFIE 93 

has no power of exorcism to lay them. The Prospero, 
whose fatal wand has conjured up these elements, into 
this wild and fearful and disastrous commotion, has no 
magic power to call up the ministering spirits of the stormy 
deep, to rescue the sinking fortunes of a whole people, s 
rashly and wickedly exposed to the rocks, winds, waves, 
and quicksands of this most desperate and imperious 
experiment. 

Sir, the executive branch of the government has plunged 
the country into this stormy sea of desperate adventure, 10 
under circumstances which greatly aggravate the outrage 
committed upon the Constitution, and upon the rights 
and interests of the people. What excuse or apology can 
be offered for such a daring assumption and hazardous 
exercise of power by the Executive? When Cromwell 15 
usurped the supreme power in England, he saw the nation 
torn to pieces by factions and drenched in civil blood; 
and his strong arm clutched the fallen scepter, to save the 
country from universal desolation. When Bonaparte 
returned from Egypt, and dispersed the Chamber of 20 
Deputies, he found the armies of the Republic driven 
back, the finances involved in bankruptcy, and the com- 
bined powers of Europe menacing the existence of France. 
Where, said he, are the conquests I made, the victories 
I achieved, the resources I supplied, and the armies 1 25 
left for the security of France? But what was the con- 
dition of the United States at that fatal moment when 
the evil genius of the President prompted him to assume 
the fearful responsibility of destroying our system of 
credit, deranging our system of currency, in open and 3° 
avowed contempt of the legislative power? What was 



94 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

there in that condition to afford the shadow of a pretext 
for the usurpation of which we complain? What civil 
dissensions was it designed to compose; what financial 
embarrassments and public sufferings was it calculated 
5 to relieve ? It is worth while to look back to the inception 
of this executive experiment. The people of the United 
States were in the enjoyment of an unexampled prosperity 
— literally basking in the sunshine of tranquillity, abun- 
dance, and contentment — blessings the more exquisitely 

10 realized from their contrast with the troubled scene which 
had recently passed away. They had seen a dark and 
portentous cloud lowering in the horizon, and could almost 
hear the distant thunder and see the prelusive flashes of 
the coming storm, which threatened to shake the mighty 

15 fabric of this Federal system to its deep foundations. 
But at this eventful crisis, a redeeming power was inter- 
posed, in the spirit of conciliation; a covenant of peace 
was ratified here, the storm passed away, and the rainbow 
circled the arch of the heavens, the cheering harbinger 

20 of that happiness and contentment which were the lot 
of a united people, until the fatal dog days, when this 
most pernicious scheme of executive usurpation was en- 
gendered, not to save the country from civil dissensions 
and restore its disordered finances, but to mar and destroy 

25 the brightest vision of happiness that ever blessed the 
hopes of any people! 

And I regret to find that the authors of this fatal ex- 
periment are resolved to carry it on in the same reckless 
spirit in which it was conceived. Nothing has struck me 

30 more forcibly than the stubborn perseverance of the 
administration in their desperate purposes, hoping against 



GEORGE MCDUFFIE 95 

hope, blind to the palpable results of experience, and deaf 
to the cries of a suffering people. It is a spirit of heartless 
indifference to popular suffering, wholly without excuse, 
and almost without example. We have been told by 
a member of the House (Mr. Beardsley), — in the exter-5 
minating spirit of that Roman who always concluded his 
speeches with the motto, "Carthage must be destroyed, " 
— that the Bank of the United States must be destroyed 
by whatever means, and at the hazard of whatever con- 
sequences. "Perish commerce, perish credit; give us 10 
broken banks and a disordered currency," rather than 
retrace the steps of this executive crusade against the 
bank ! And the Chief Magistrate himself declares that 
neither "the opinion of the legislature, nor the voice of 
the people, shall induce him to abandon his purpose, 15 
whatever may be the suffering produced," adding, for 
the consolation of the enterprising and industrious classes, 
that if those should fail "who trade upon borrowed capi- 
tal," they deserve their fate. 

Mr. Speaker, we can scarcely give credit to the historian 20 
who records the degeneracy and degradation of a great 
people of antiquity, when he informs us that a Roman 
emperor- amused himself by fiddling, while the capital 
of his empire and the fortunes of the Roman people were 
involved in one general conflagration. But our own 25 
melancholy and woeful experience, is but too well cal- 
culated to remove any historical skepticism, which might 
induce us to suppose that the extraordinary spectacle 
to which I have alluded was drawn rather by the pencil 
of . poetry than by the pen of historical truth. For 30 
even at this early period in our national progress, in the 



96 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

very dawn of our republican institutions, we are ourselves 
exhibiting to the world — which we vainly boast of en- 
lightening by our example — a spectacle, in some of 
its aspects, more unnatural and revolting than its Roman 
5 prototype. If my recollection of this interesting chapter 
in the history of man be not imperfect, Nero was not 
himself the incendiary who applied the fatal torch, by 
which the temples and the gods, the Senate House and 
the Forum, the gorgeous palaces and the humble cottages 

io of the Imperial City, were consigned to the devouring 
element. Can you say as much, sir, — I will not say 
for the President of the United States, — but for that 
irresponsible cabal, which is the living emblem of pesti- 
lence and famine, by which even his more noble and 

15 generous impulses are converted into instruments of 
mischief? Who is it that has kindled up that conflagra- 
tion that is now sweeping over the land, — like a prairie 
fire of the West, — bearing destruction in its bosom, 
laying a scene of desolation in its rear, and scattering 

20 consternation in every direction ? Nay, sir, who is it 
that has sacrilegiously invaded the sanctuary of the Con- 
stitution, and lighted at the very fires of the altar that 
fatal brand, which, desperately and vindictively hurled, — 
with whatever aim, — has struck upon the great temple 

25 of our national prosperity, involving it in "hideous ruin 
and combustion"? Mr. Speaker, it was no midnight 
incendiary that silently stole into the temple with his 
Ephesian torch, concealed by the mantle of darkness. 
No ; it was the high priest of the Constitution that violated 

30 the sanctuary and desecrated the fires of the altar. It 
was in the broad glare of noonday, from the imperial 



GEORGE MCDUFFIE 97 

heights of power, and in open defiance of all the moral 
and political guaranties of human rights, that this con- 
suming brand was cast into the elements of combustion, 
and which came upon an astounded people, without cause 
and without notice, like Heaven's avenging bolt from a 5 
cloudless sky. And now that the signal bells of alarm 
and distress are ringing from one extremity of this Union 
to the other, mingling their disastrous chimes with those 
cries of distress which come to us from the four quarters 
of the heavens, on every wind that blows, and forming 10 
one mighty chorus of indignant complaint that has forced 
its way into the sealed ears of infatuated power, — with 
what sympathy, with what feelings of commiseration, with 
what " compunctious visitings " are these proofs of a 
nation's sufferings received by the authors of the calamity 15 
and their accomplices? 



SARGENT SMITH PRENTISS 
Lafayette 

Death, who knocks with equal hand at the door of the 
cottage and the palace gate, has been busy at his ap- 
pointed work. Mourning prevails throughout the land, 
and the countenances of all are shrouded in the mantle 
5 of regret. Far across the wild Atlantic, amid the pleasant 
vineyards in the sunny land of France, there, too, is 
mourning ; and the weeds of sorrow are alike worn by 
prince and peasant. Against whom has the monarch 
of the tomb turned his remorseless dart that such wide- 

10 spread sorrow prevails? Hark, and the agonized voice 
of Freedom, weeping for her favorite son, will tell you in 
strains sadder than those with which she "shrieked as 
Kosciusko fell " that Lafayette — the gallant and the 
good — has ceased to live. 

*5 The friend and companion of Washington is no more. 
He who taught the eagle of our country, while yet un- 
fledged, to plume his young wing and mate his talons with 
the lion's strength, has taken his flight far beyond the stars, 
beneath whose influence he fought so well. Lafayette 

20 is dead ! The gallant ship, whose pennon has so often 
bravely streamed above the roar of battle and the tempest's 
rage, has at length gone slowly down in the still and 
quiet waters. Well mightest thou, Death, now recline 

98 



SARGENT SMITH PRENTISS 99 

beneath the laurels thou hast won; for never since, as 
the grim messenger of Almighty Vengeance, thou earnest 
into this world, did a more generous heart cease to heave 
beneath thy chilling touch, and never will thy insatiate 
dart be hurled against a nobler breast ! Who does not 5 
feel, at the mournful intelligence, as if he had lost some- 
thing cheering from his own path through life ; as if some 
bright star, at which he had been accustomed frequently 
and fondly to gaze, had been suddenly extinguished in 
the firmament? 10 

History's pages abound with those who have struggled 
forth from nameless crowd, and, standing forward in the 
front rank, challenged the notice of their fellow-men; 
but when, in obedience to their bold demands, we examine 
their claims to our admiration, how seldom do we find 15 
aught that excites our respect or commands our venera- 
tion. With what pleasure do we turn from the con- 
templation of the Caesars and Napoleons of the human 
race to meditate upon the character of Lafayette ! We 
feel proud that we belong to the same species ; we feel 20 
proud that we live in the same age ; and we feel still more 
proud that our own country drew forth and nurtured 
those generous virtues which went to form a character 
that, for love of liberty, romantic chivalry, unbounded 
generosity and unwavering devotion, has never had a 25 
parallel. 

The history of this wonderful man is engraved upon 
the memory of every American, and I shall only advert 
to such portions of it as will best tend to illustrate his 
character. In 1777 our fathers were engaged in rescuing 30 
from the fangs of the British lion the rights which their 



100 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

sons are now enjoying. It was the gloomiest period of 
the Revolutionary struggle. Our army was feeble; an 
insolent and victorious enemy was pressing hard upon 
it ; despondency had spread through its ranks. It seemed 
5 as if the last hope of Freedom was gone. Deep gloom 
had settled over the whole country; and men looked 
with a despairing aspect upon the future of a contest 
which their best wishes could not flatter them was doubt- 
ful. It was at this critical period that their hopes were 

10 renovated and their spirits roused by the cheering in- 
telligence that at Charleston, in the State of South Carolina, 
there had just arrived a gallant French nobleman of high 
rank and immense wealth, eager to embark his person 
and his fortunes in the sacred cause of Liberty ! New 

T 5 impulse was given to the energies of our dispirited troops. 
As the first ray of morning breaks upon the benighted 
and tempest-tossed mariner, so did this timely assistance 
cheer the hearts of the war-worn and almost despairing 
soldiers of Freedom. The enthusiastic Frenchman, 

20 though but a beardless youth, was immediately taken into 
the affection and the confidence of Washington. Soon, 
too, did he flash his maiden sword upon his hereditary 
foes and proved, upon the field of Brandywine, that his 
blood flowed as freely as his treasure in the cause he had 

2 5 espoused. That blood was the blood of the young La- 
fayette. But nineteen summers had passed over his brow, 
when he was thus found fighting side by side with the 
veteran of Bunker Hill. 

How came he here? Born to a high name and rich 

30 inheritance ; educated at a dissipated and voluptuous 
court; married to a young and- beautiful woman, — how 



SARGENT SMITH PRENTISS 101 

came he to break through the blandishments of love 
and the temptations of pleasure and thus be found fight- 
ing the battles of strangers, far away in the wilds of 
America? It was because, from his infancy, there had 
grown up in his bosom a passion more potent than all 5 
others — the love of liberty. Upon his heart a spark from 
the very altar of Freedom had fallen, and he watched 
and cherished it with more than vestal vigilance. This 
passionate love of liberty, this fire which was thence- 
forth to glow unquenched and undimmed, impelled him 10 
to break asunder the ties both of pleasure and affection. 
He had heard that a gallant people had raised the standard 
of revolt against oppression, and he hastened to join them. 
It was to him the Crusade of Liberty ; and, like a Knight 
of the Holy Cross, he had enlisted in the ranks of those 15 
who had sworn to rescue her altars from the profane touch 
of the tyrant. 

More congenial to him by far were the hardships, the 
dangers, and the freedom of the American wilds than 
the ease, the luxury, and the slavery of his native court. 20 
He exchanged the voice of love for the savage yell and 
the hostile shout ; the gentle strains of the harp and lute 
for the trumpet and drum and the still more terrible 
music of clashing arms. Nor did he come alone or empty 
handed. The people in whose cause he was about to 25 
peril his life and his fortune were too poor to afford him 
even the means of conveyance, and his own court threw 
every obstacle in the way of the accomplishment of his 
wishes. Did this dampen his ardor? Did this chill his 
generous aspiration ? No ; it added new vigor to each. 30 
"I will fit out a vessel myself/' exclaimed the enthusiastic 



102 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

youth; and in spite of the sneers of the young and the 
cautions of the old the gallant boy redeemed his pledge. 
Soon a proud ship was seen flying fast and falcon-like 
across the wide Atlantic. She landed on our shores like 
5 a bird of promise ; and by her present aid and hopes of 
future succor infused new vigor into our almost palsied 
arms. 

Such was the commencement of a career destined to 
be more brilliant than any of which we read in tale or 

10 history, realizing the wildest wishes of youthful enthusiasm 
and showing how the romance of real life often exceeds 
the strangest fictions of the imagination. From the mo- 
ment of joining our ranks the young hero became the 
pride and the boast of the army. He won the affection 

15 of the stern-browed and iron-souled warriors of New 
England and was received with open arms by the warm- 
hearted and chivalrous sons of the South. Though the 
down of manhood had scarcely begun to spring upon his 
cheek, yet were his counsels eagerly listened to by the 

20 hoary leaders and the scarred veterans of the war. On the 
field of battle he was impetuous and brave ; in the council 
the wisdom of Nestor flowed from his lips. 

But it is not my intention to go into a detailed account 
of the services rendered by Lafayette to the country of 

25 his adoption. Suffice it to say that throughout the 
Revolutionary struggle, with unchanged fidelity and un- 
deviating devotion, he continued to pour forth his blood 
and his treasure in the sacred cause he had espoused; 
and when at length, full of honors, without one single 

30 stain upon his bright escutcheon, he returned to his native 
land, the voices of millions of . freemen were united in 



SARGENT SMITH PRENTISS 103 

invoking the blessing of heaven upon his head. Thence- 
forth a halo of glory surrounded him, and he was hailed 
by all the world as the Apostle of Liberty ! Full well did 
he deserve the title ! For not more truly does the needle 
point to the pole than did all his feelings point to the great 5 
principles of civil freedom. 

During the sanguinary scenes of the French Revolution, 
when the people had quaffed so deeply at the fountain 
of liberty that they became drunk and frenzied with the 
unusual draughts, Lafayette alone lost not his equanimity. 10 
He alone dared to oppose the wild excesses of the Jacobins °; 
and though he was unable entirely to stem the maddened 
torrent, which seemed let loose from hell itself, yet many 
are the thanks due to his unwearied exertions to restrain 
it within the banks of law and order. Throughout those 15 
troublesome times he was found at his post by the side 
of the Constitution and the laws; and when at length 
the whole foundations of society were broken up and the 
wild current of licentiousness and crime swept him an 
exile into a foreign land, still did he hold fast his in- 20 
tegrity of soul. In the gloomy dungeons of Olmutz, the 
flame of patriotism glowed as brightly and as warmly 
in his breast as ever it did when fanned by the free breezes 
of the mountains. The dungeons of Olmutz ! What 
associations are connected with the name ! They form 25 
a part of the romance of history. For five long years was 
the Friend of Liberty immured in the prison of the tyrant. 
In vain did the civilized world demand his release. But 
what nations could not effect, came near being accom- 
plished by the devoted exertions of two chivalric young 30 
men°: and one of them was a South Carolinian whose 



104 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

father had extended the hospitality of his house to La- 
fayette, when on his first visit to America he landed in 
the city of Charleston. Strange that, after the lapse 
of so many years, the little child who had then climbed 
5 upon his knee should now be periling his life for his rescue ! 
There is nothing in history to compare with this romantic 
episode of real life, unless, perhaps, the story of the 
minstrel friend of the lion-hearted Richard, wandering 
through those very dominions, tuning his harp beneath 

10 every fortress, till at length his strains were answered and 
the prison of the royal Crusader discovered. But the 
doors of the Austrian dungeon were at length thrown open 
and Lafayette returned to France. Great changes, how- 
ever, had taken place in his absence. The flood of the 

15 Revolution had subsided. The tempest of popular com- 
motion had blown over, leaving many and fearful evidences 
of its fury ; and the star of the Child of Destiny had now 
become lord of the ascendant. Small was the sympathy 
between the selfish and ambitious Napoleon and Lafayette 

20 the patriot and philanthropist. They could no more 
mingle than the pure lights of heaven and the unholy 
fires of hell. Lafayette refused with scorn the dignities 
proffered by the First Consul. Filled with virtuous in- 
dignation at his country's fate, he retired from the capital ; 

2 5 and, devoting himself awhile to the pursuits of private 
life, awaited the return of better times. 

Here we cannot but pause to contemplate these won- 
derful men, belonging to the same age and to the same 
nation: Napoleon and Lafayette. Their names excite 

30 no kindred emotions ; their fates no kindred sympathies. 
Napoleon — the Child of Destiny — the thunderbolt 



SARGENT SMITH PRENTISS * 105 

of war — the victor in a hundred battles — the dispenser 
of thrones and dominions; he who scaled the Alps and 
reclined beneath the pyramids, whose word was fate 
and whose wish was law. Lafayette — the volunteer of 
Freedom — the advocate of human rights — the defender 5 
of civil liberty — the patriot and the philanthropist — 
the beloved of the good and the free. Napoleon — the 
vanquished warrior, ignobly flying from the field of Water- 
loo, the wild beast, ravaging all Europe in his wrath, 
hunted down by the banded and affrighted nations and 10 
caged far away upon an ocean-girded rock. Lafayette, 
a watchword by which men excite each other to deeds 
of worth and noble daring; whose home has become 
the Mecca of freedom, toward which the pilgrims of 
Liberty turn their eyes from every quarter of the globe. 15 
Napoleon was the red and fiery comet, shooting wildly 
through the realms of space and scattering pestilence 
and terror among the nations. Lafayette was the pure 
and brilliant planet, beneath whose grateful beams the 
mariner directs his bark and the shepherd tends his flocks 20 
— Napoleon died and a few old warriors — the scat- 
tered relics of Marengo and Austerlitz — bewailed their 
chief. Lafayette is dead and the tears of a civilized 
world attest how deep is the mourning for his loss. Such 
is, and always will be, the difference of feeling toward 25 
a benefactor and a conqueror of the human race. 

In 1824, on Sunday, a single ship furled her snowy 
sails in the harbor of New York. Scarcely had her prow 
touched the shore, when a murmur was heard among 
the multitudes, which gradually deepened into a mighty 30 
shout of joy. Again and again were the heavens rent with 



106 * SOUTHERN ORATORS 

the inspiring sound. Nor did it cease; for the loud strain 
was carried from city to city and from State to State, 
till not a tongue was silent throughout this wide Republic 
from the lisping infant to the tremulous old man. All 
5 were united in one wild shout of gratulation. The voices 
of more than ten million freemen gushed up towards the 
sky and broke the stillness of its silent depths. But one 
note and one tone went to form this acclamation. Up 
in those pure regions clearly and sweetly did it sound: 

10 "Honor to Lafayette!" "Welcome to the Nation's 
Guest ! " It was Lafayette, the war-worn veteran, 
whose arrival on our shores had caused this widespread, 
this universal joy. He came among us to behold the 
independence and the freedom which his young arm had 

15 so well assisted in achieving ; and never before did eye 
behold or heart of man conceive, such homage paid to 
virtue. Every day's march was an ovation. The United 
States became for months one great festive hall. People 
forgot the usual occupations of life and crowded to be- 

20 hold the benefactor of mankind. The iron-hearted, 
gray-haired veterans of the Revolution thronged around 
him to touch his hand, to behold his face, and to call down 
Heaven's benisons upon their old companion-in-arms. 
Lisping infancy and garrulous old age, beauty, talent, 

2 5 wealth, and power, all, for a while forsook their usual 
pursuits and united to pay a tribute of gratitude and 
welcome to the nation's guest. The name of Lafayette 
was upon every lip, and wherever his name was, there, 
too, was an invocation for blessings upon his head. What 

3° were the triumphs of the classic ages, compared with 
this unbought love and homage of a mighty people ? 



SARGENT SMITH PRENTISS 107 

Take them in Rome's days, when the invincible generals 
of the Eternal City returned from their foreign conquests, 
with captive kings bound to their chariot wheels and the 
spoils of nations in their train; followed by their stern 
and bearded warriors and surrounded by the endless 5 
multitudes of the seven-hilled city, shouting a fierce 
welcome home ; what was such a triumph compared with 
Lafayette's? Not a single city, but a whole nation rising 
as one man and greeting him with an affectionate embrace ! 
One single day of such spontaneous homage were worth 10 
whole years of courtly adulation; one hour might well 
reward a man for a whole life of danger and of toil. Then, 
too, the joy with which he must have viewed the pros- 
perity of the people for whom he had so heroically strug- 
gled ! To behold the nation which he had left a little 15 
child, now grown up in the full proportions of lusty 
manhood ! To see the tender sapling, which he had left 
with hardly shade enough to cover its own roots, now 
waxing into the sturdy and unwedgeable oak, beneath 
whose grateful umbrage the oppressed of all nations find 20 
shelter and protection! That oak still grows on in its 
majestic strength, and wider and wider still extends its 
mighty branches. But the hand that watered and 
nourished it while yet a tender plant is now cold ; the heart 
that watched with strong affection its early growth has 25 
ceased to beat. 

Virtue forms no shield to ward off the arrows of death. 
Could it have availed even when joined with the prayers 
of a whole civilized world, then, indeed, this mournful 
occasion would never have occurred and the life of La- 30 
fayette would have been as immortal as his fame. Yet, 



108 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

though he has passed from among us ; though that coun- 
tenance will no more be seen that used to lighten up the 
van of Freedom's battles as he led her eaglets to their 
feast ; still he has left behind his better part ; the legacy 
5 of his bright example, the memory of his deeds. The 
lisping infant will learn to speak his venerated name. 
The youth of every country will be taught to look upon 
his career and to follow in his footsteps. When hereafter 
a gallant people are fighting for freedom against the 

10 oppressor and their cause begins to wane before the 
mercenary bands of tyranny, then will the name of La- 
fayette become a watchword that will strike with terror 
on the tyrant's ear and nerve with redoubled vigor the 
freeman's arm. At that name many a heart before un- 

15 moved will wake in the glorious cause ; and many a sword, 
rusting ingloriously in its scabbard, will leap forth to 
battle. But even amid the mourning with which our 
souls are shrouded, is there not some room for gratula- 
tion ? Our departed friend and benefactor has gone down 

20 to the grave peacefully and quietly at a good old age. 
He had performed his appointed work. His virtues were 
ripe. He had done nothing to sully his fair fame. No 
blot or soil of envy or calumny can now affect him. His 
character will stand upon the pages of history, pure and 

25 unsullied as the lilied emblem on his country's banner. 
He has departed from among us; but he has become 
again the companion of Washington. He has but left the 
friends of his old age to associate with the friends of his 
youth. Peace be to his ashes ! Calm and quiet may 

30 they rest upon some vine-clad hill of his own beloved 
land ! And it shall be called the Mount Vernon of France. 



SARGENT SMITH PRENTISS 109 

And let no cunning sculpture, no monumental marble, 
deface with its mock dignity the patriot's grave ; but rather 
let the unpruned vine, the wild flower, and the free song 
of the uncaged bird, all that speaks of freedom and of 
peace, be gathered round it. Lafayette needs no mau- 5 
soleum. His fame is mingled with the nation's history. 
His epitaph is engraved upon the hearts of men. 



THOMAS HART BENTON 

The Administration of Andrew Jackson 

But, while declining to reopen the argument of this 

question, and refusing to tread over again the ground 

already traversed, there is another and a different task to 

perform; one which the approaching termination of 

5 President Jackson's administration makes peculiarly 

• proper at this time, and which it is my privilege, and 
perhaps my duty, to execute, as being the suitable con- 
clusion to the arduous contest in which we have been so 
long engaged : I allude to the general tenor of his adminis- 

10 tration, and to its effect, for good or for evil, upon the 
condition of his country. This is the proper time for 
such a view to be taken. The political existence of this 
great man now draws to a close. In little more than 
forty days he ceases to be a public character. In a few 

15 brief weeks he ceases to be an object of political hope to 
any, and should cease to be an object of political hate, 
or envy, to all. Whatever of motive the servile and 
time-serving might have found in his exalted station for 
raising the altar of adulation, and burning the incense of 

20 praise before him, that motive can no longer exist. The 

dispenser of the patronage of an empire — the chief of 

this great confederacy of States — is soon to be a private 

individual, stripped of all power to reward or to punish. 

110 



THOMAS HART BENTON 111 

His own thoughts, as he has shown us in the concluding 
paragraph of that message which is to be the last of its 
kind that we shall ever receive from him, are directed to 
that beloved retirement from which he was drawn by 
the voice of millions of freemen, and to which he now 5 
looks for that interval of repose which age and infirmities 
require. • Under these circumstances, he ceases to be a 
subject for the ebullition of the passions, and passes into 
a character for the contemplation of history. Histori- 
cally, then, shall I view him ; and, limiting this view to 10 
his civil administration, I demand where is there a chief 
magistrate of whom so much evil has been predicted, and 
from whom so much good has come ? Never has any man 
entered upon the chief magistracy of a country under 
such appalling predictions of ruin and woe ! never has 15 
any one been so pursued with direful prognostications ! 
Never has any one been so beset and impeded by a power- 
ful combination of political and moneyed confederates ! 
Never has any one in any country, where the administra- 
tion of justice has risen above the knife or the bow-string, 20 
been so lawlessly and shamelessly tried and condemned 
by rivals and enemies, without hearing, without defense, 
without the forms of law or justice ! History has been 
ransacked to find examples of tyrants sufficiently odious 
to illustrate him by comparison. Language has been tor- 25 
tured to find epithets sufficiently strong to paint him in 
description. Imagination has been exhausted in her 
efforts to deck him with revolting and inhuman attri- 
butes. Tyrant, despot, usurper ; destroyer of the liberties 
of his country ; rash, ignorant, imbecile ; endangering the 30 
public peace with all foreign nations ; destrojdng domes- 



112 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

tic prosperity at home; ruining all industry, all com- 
merce, all manufactories ; annihilating confidence between 
man and man ; delivering up the streets of populous cities 
to grass and weeds, and the wharves of commercial towns 
5 to the incumbrance of decaying vessels, depriving labor 
of all reward; depriving industry of all employment; 
destroying the currency ; plunging an innocent and happy 
people from the summit of felicitjr to the depths of misery, 
want, and despair. Such is the faint outline, followed up 

io by actual condemnation, of the appalling denunciations 
daily uttered against this one man, from the moment he 
became an object of political competition, down to the 
concluding moment of his political existence. 

To detail specific acts which adorn the administration 

15 of President Jackson, and illustrate the intuitive sagacity 
of his intellect, the firmness of his mind, his disregard of 
personal popularity, and his entire devotion to the pub- 
lic good, would be inconsistent with this rapid sketch, 
intended merely to present general views, and not to 

20 detail single actions,' howsoever worthy they may be of 
a splendid page in the volume of history. But how can 
we pass over the great measure of the removal of the 
public moneys from the Bank of the United States in the 
autumn of 1833 ? that wise, heroic, and masterly measure 

25 of prevention, which has rescued an empire from the 
fangs of a merciless, revengeful, greedy, insatiate, im- 
placable, moneyed power ! It is a remark for which I am 
indebted to the philosophic observation of my most 
esteemed colleague and friend (pointing to Dr. Linn), 

30 that, while it requires far greater talent to foresee an 
evil before it happens, and to arrest it by precautionary 



THOMAS HART BENTON 113 

measures, than it requires to apply an adequate remedy 
to the same evil after it has happened, yet the applause 
bestowed by the world is always greatest in the latter 
case. Of this the removal of the public moneys from 
the Bank of the United States is an eminent instance. 5 
The veto of 1832, which arrested the charter which Con- 
gress had granted, immediately received the applause and 
approbation of a majority of the Union; the removal of 
the deposites, which prevented the bank from forcing a 
recharter, was disapproved by a large majority of the io 
country, and even of his own friends ; yet the veto would 
have been unavailing, and the bank would inevitably 
have been rechartered, if the deposites had not been re- 
moved. The immense sums of public money since ac- 
cumulated would have enabled the bank, if she had re- is 
tained the possession of it, to have coerced a recharter. 
Nothing but the removal could have prevented her from 
extorting a recharter from the sufferings and terrors of 
the people. If it had not been for that measure, the 
previous veto would have been unavailing ; the bank 20 
would have been again installed in power, and this entire 
Federal government would have been held as an append- 
age to that bank, and administered according to her 
directions, and by her nominees. That great measure of 
prevention, the removal of the deposites, though feebly 25 
and faintly supported by friends at first, has expelled 
the bank from the field, and driven her into abeyance 
under a State charter. She is not dead, but, holding her 
capital and stockholders together under a State charter, 
she has taken a position to watch events, and to profit 3° 
by them. The royal tiger has gone into the jungle ! 



114 . SOUTHERN ORATORS 

and, crouched on his belly, he awaits the favorable mo- 
ment for emerging from his cover, and springing on the 
body of the unsuspicious traveler ! 

The Treasury order for excluding paper money from 
5 the land offices is another wise measure, originating in an 
enlightened forecast, and preventing great mischiefs. 
The President foresaw the evils of suffering a thousand 
streams of paper money, issuing from a thousand different 
banks, to discharge themselves on the national domain. 

io He foresaw that if these currents were allowed to run 
their course, that the public lands would be swept away, 
the Treasury would be filled with irredeemable paper, a 
vast number of banks must be broken by their folly, and 
the cry set up that nothing but a national bank could 

15 regulate the currency. He stopped the course of these 
streams of paper, and, in so doing, has saved the country 
from a great calamity, and excited anew the machinations 
of those whose schemes of gain and mischief have been 
disappointed, and who had counted on a new edition of 

20 panic and pressure, and again saluting Congress with the 
old story of confidence destroyed, currency ruined, pros- 
perity annihilated, and distress produced, by the tyranny 
of one man. They began their lugubrious song; but 
ridicule and contempt have proved too strong for money 

25 and insolence ; and the panic letter of the ex-president of 
the denationalized bank, after limping about for a few 
days, has shrunk from the lash of public scorn, and dis- 
appeared from the forum of public debate. 

But why this specification ? So beneficent and so glori- 

300US has been the administration of this President, that 
where to begin, and where to end, in the enumeration 



; 



THOMAS HART BENTON 115 

of great measures, would be the embarrassment of him 
who has his eulogy to make. He came into office the 
first of generals ; he goes out the first of statesmen. His 
civil competitors have shared the fate of his military op- 
ponents ; and Washington City has been to the American 5 
politicians who have assailed him, what New Orleans was 
to the British generals who attacked his lines. Repulsed ! 
driven back ! discomfited ! crushed ! has been the fate of 
all assailants, foreign and domestic, civil and military. At 
home and abroad, the impress of his genius, and of his 10 
character is felt. He has impressed upon the age in 
which he lives the stamp of his arms, of his diplomacy, 
and of his domestic policy. In a word, so transcendent 
have been the merits of his administration, that they 
have operated a miracle upon the minds of his most in- 15 
veterate opponents. He has expunged their objections to 
military chieftains ! He has shown them that they were • 
mistaken; that military men were not the dangerous 
rulers they had imagined, but safe and prosperous con- 
ductors of the vessel of State. He has changed their 20 
fear into love. With visible signs they admit their error, 
and, instead of deprecating, they now invoke the reign 
of chieftains. They labored hard to procure a military 
successor to the present incumbent; and if their love 
goes on increasing at the same rate, the Republic may be 25 
put to the expense of periodical wars, to breed a perpetual 
succession of these chieftains to rule over them and their 
posterity forever. 

To drop this irony, which the inconsistency of mad op- 
ponents has provoked, and to return to the plain delinea- 30 
tions of historical painting, the mind instinctively dwells 



116 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

on the vast and unprecedented popularity of this Presi- 
dent. Great is the influence, great the power, greater 
than any man ever before possessed in our America, 
which he has acquired over the public mind. And how 

5 has he acquired it ? Not by the arts of intrigue, or the 
juggling tricks of diplomacy; not by undermining rivals, 
or sacrificing public interests for the gratification of 
classes or individuals. But he has acquired it, first, by 
the exercise of an intuitive sagacity which, leaving all 

10 book learning at an immeasurable distance behind, has 
always enabled him to adopt the right remedy, at the 
right time, and to conquer soonest when the men of 
forms and office thought him most near to ruin and de- 
spair. Next, by a moral courage which knew no fear 

15 when the public good beckoned him to go on. Last, and 
chiefest, he has acquired it by an open honesty of pur- 
pose, which knew.no concealments; by a straightfor- 
wardness of action, which disdained the forms of office 
and the arts of intrigue ; by a disinterestedness of motive, 

20 which knew no selfish or sordid calculation ; a devotedness 
of patriotism, which staked everything personal on the 
issue of every measure which the public welfare required 
him to adopt. By- these qualities, and these means, he 
has acquired his prodigious popularity and his tran- 

25 scendent influence over the public mind ; and if there are 
any who envy that influence and popularity, let them 
envy, also, and emulate, if they can, the qualities and 
means by which they were acquired. 

Great has been the opposition to President Jackson's 

30 administration ; greater, -perhaps, than ever has been ex- 
hibited against any government, short of actual insur- 



THOMAS HART BENTON 111 

rection and forcible resistance. Revolution has been pro- 
claimed ! and everything has been done that could be 
expected to produce revolution. The country has been 
alarmed, agitated, convulsed. From the Senate chamber 
to the village barroom, from one end of the continent to s 
the other, denunciation, agitation, excitement has been 
the order of the day. For eight years the President of 
this Republic has stood upon a volcano, vomiting fire and 
flames upon him, and threatening the country itself with 
ruin and desolation, if the people did not expel the usurper, 10 
despot, and tyrant, as he was called, from the high place to 
which the suffrages of millions of freemen had elevated him. 
Great is the confidence which he has always reposed in 
the discernment and equity of the American people. I 
have been accustomed to see him for many years, and 15 
under many discouraging trials ; but never saw him doubt, 
for an instant, the ultimate support of the people. It was 
my privilege to see him often, and during the most gloomy 
period of the panic conspiracy, when the whole earth 
seemed to be in commotion against him, and when many 20 
friends were faltering, and stout hearts were quailing, 
before the raging storm which bank machination, and 
senatorial denunciation, had conjured up to overwhelm 
him. I saw him in the darkest moments of this gloomy 
period ; and never did I see his confidence in the ulti- 25 
mate support of his fellow-citizens forsake him for an 
instant. He always said the people would stand by 
those who stand by them; and nobly have they justified 
that confidence ! That verdict, the voice of millions, 
which now demands the expurgation of that sentence 3° 
which the Senate and the bank then pronounced upon 



118 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

him, as the magnificent response of the people's hearts 
to the implicit confidence which he then reposed in them. 
But it was not in the people only that he had confidence ; 
there was another, and a far higher Power, to which he 
5 constantly looked to save the country and its defenders 
from every danger; and signal events prove that he did 
not look to that high Power in vain. 

Sir, I think it right, in approaching the termination of 
this great question, to present this faint and rapid sketch 

ioof the brilliant, beneficent, and glorious administration 
of President Jackson. It is not for me to attempt to do 
it justice; it is not for ordinary men to attempt its his- 
tory. His military life, resplendent with dazzling events, 
will demand the pen of a nervous writer; his civil ad- 

15 ministration, replete with scenes which have called into 
action so many and such various passions of the human 
heart, and which has given to native sagacity so many 
victories over practised politicians, will require the pro- 
found, luminous, and philosophical conceptions of a Livy, 

20 a Plutarch, or a Sallust. This history is not to be written 
in our day. The cotemporaries of such events are not 
the hands to describe them. Time must first do its 
office — must silence the passions, remove the actors, 
develop consequences, and canonize all that is sacred to 

25 honor, patriotism, and glory. In after ages the historic 
genius of our America shall produce the writers which 
the subject demands — men far removed from the con- 
tests of this day, who will know how to estimate this 
great epoch, and how to acquire an immortality for their 

30 own names by painting, with a master's hand, the im- 
mortal events of the patriot President's life. 



THOMAS HART BENTON 119 

And now, sir, I finish the task which, three years ago, 
I imposed on myself. Solitary and alone, and amidst 
the jeers and taunts of my opponents, I put this ball in 
motion. The people have taken it up, and rolled it for- 
ward, and I am no longer anything but a unit in the 5 
vast mass which now propels it. In the name of that 
mass I speak. I demand the execution of the edict of 
the people; I demand the expurgation of that sentence 
which the voice of a few Senators, and the power of their 
confederate, the Bank of the United States, has caused to 10 
be placed on the journal of the Senate, and which the 
voice of millions of freemen has ordered to be expunged 
from it. 



JAMES KNOX POLK 

Inaugural Address 

Gentlemen of the Senate, of the House of Representatives, 
and Fellow-citizens : 

Under our happy system of government, the ultimate 
and supreme sovereignty rests in the people. The powers 
of government delegated by the people to their public 
functionaries are by our Constitution divided between 

5 the Federal and State authorities. The State govern- 
ments are not, as has been erroneously supposed by some, 
subordinate to the Federal government. "They are co- 
ordinate departments of one simple and integral whole." 
The States have parted with certain enumerated and 

10 specified powers, and, by the Constitution of the United 
States, these are delegated to the Federal government, 
and can only be rightfully exercised by that government. 
"The powers not delegated to the United States by the 
Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are re- 

15 served to the States respectively, or to the people. " By 
the partition of powers thus distinctly defined, it is mani- 
fest that each government possesses powers which are 
withheld from the other. And so long as each acts within 
its legitimate and proper sphere, the system works har- 

20 moniously, and affords to the citizen a greater amount of 
security for life, liberty, and property, and in the pursuit 
120 



JAMES KNOX POLK 121 

of happiness, than is to be found under any other gov- 
ernment which has ever existed. When either overleaps 
the true boundary prescribed for its action, and usurps 
the exercise of powers properly belonging to the other, 
the harmony of the system is disturbed, and agitating 5 
collisions arise which are calculated to weaken the bonds 
of union. Whilst, therefore, the States should be jealous 
of every encroachment of the Federal government on 
their rights, they should be careful to confine themselves 
in their own action to the exercise of powers clearly re- 10 
served to them. 

In ascertaining the true line of separation between the 
powers of the general government and of the States, 
much difficulty has often been experienced in the opera- 
tions of our system. The powers delegated to the general 15 
government are either express or implied. The general 
rule of construction laid down by the General Assembly 
of Virginia in 1799 may be regarded as a sound one by 
which to determine whether a given power has been dele- 
gated to that government, or is reserved to the States. 20 
That rule is — " Whenever a question arises concerning 
the constitutionality of a particular power, the first ques- 
tion is, whether the power be expressed in the Constitution. 
If it be, the question is decided. If it be not expressed, 
the next question must be, whether it is properly an 25 
incident to an expressed power, and necessary to its exe- 
cution. If it be, it may be exercised by Congress. If it 
be not, Congress cannot exercise it." If the power be 
not expressed, it is not enough that it may be convenient 
or expedient to exercise it, for such a construction of the 3° 
Constitution of the United States would refer its exercise 



122 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

to the unlimited and unrestrained discretion of Congress 
— to determine what would be convenient or expedient; 
thereby making the exercise of important powers, by the 
general government, to depend upon the varying discre- 
5 tion of successive Congresses. It must be a "necessary 
and 'proper " power. It must be an incident to an express 
power, "necessary and proper " to carry that express power 
into effect, and, without which, it could not be exercised, 
and would be nugatory. 

10 Mi*. Jefferson, whose sound expositions of the relative 
powers of the Federal and State governments but few of 
my constituents will be prepared at this day to question, 
near the close of a long and eventful life of public useful- 
ness, declared "to be most false and unfounded, the doc- 

15 trine that the compact, in authorizing its Federal branch 
to lay and collect taxes, duties, imposts, and excises, to 
pay the debts and provide for the common defense and 
general welfare of the United States, has given them 
thereby a power to do whatever they think, or pretend, 

20 would promote the general welfare, which construction 
would make that, of itself, a complete government, with- 
out limitation of powers; but, that the plain sense and 
obvious meaning were, that they might levy the taxes 
necessary to provide for the general welfare, by the vari- 

25 ous acts of power therein specified and delegated to them, 
and by no others." 

In all cases of well-founded constitutional doubt, it is 
safest and wisest for all the functionaries of government, 
both State and Federal, to abstain from the exercise of 

30 the doubtful power. In all such cases, it is both safest 
and wisest to appeal to the people, the only true source 



JAMES KNOX POLK 123 

of power in the constitutional forms, by an amendment 
of the fundamental law, to remove such doubt, either by 
an enlargement or a restriction of the doubtful power in 
question. 

The Federal government has at different times assumed, 5 
or attempted to exercise powers, which, in my judgment, 
have not been conferred upon that government by the 
compact. Among these, I am free to declare my solemn 
conviction that the Federal government possesses no 
constitutional power to incorporate a National Bank. 10 
The advocates of a bank insist that it would be con- 
venient and expedient, and that it would promote the 
" general welfare"; but they have, in my judgment, 
failed to show that the power to create it is either expressly 
granted, or that it is an incident to any express power, 15 
that is u necessary and proper'' to carry that power into 
effect. The alarming dangers of the power of such a 
corporation (vast and irresponsible as experience has 
shown it to be) to the public liberty, it does not fall within 
the scope of my present purpose fully to examine. We 20 
have seen the power of associated wealth in the late 
Bank of the United States, wrestling with a giant's strength 
with the government itself, — and although finally over- 
thrown, it was not until after a long and doubtful contest. 
During the struggle, it manifested a power for mischief 25 
which it would be dangerous to permit to exist in a free 
country. The panic and alarm, the distress and exten- 
sive suffering, which in its convulsive struggle to per- 
petuate its power it inflicted on the country, will not soon 
be forgotten. Its notorious alliance with leading poli- 30 
ticians, and its open interference by means of the cor- 



124 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

rupting power of money in the political contests of the 
times, had converted it into a political engine, used to 
control elections and the course of public affairs. No 
restraints of law could prevent any similar institution 
5 from being the willing instrument used for similar pur- 
poses. The State of Tennessee, through her legislature, 
has repeatedly declared her settled opinions against the 
existence of such an institution, and at no time in its 
favor. She has instructed her senators, and requested 

10 her representatives in Congress to vote against the estab- 
lishment of such an institution. In these opinions, here- 
tofore expressed by the State, I entirely concur. 

Of the same character is the power which at some time 
has been attempted to be exercised by the Federal gov- 

15 ernment, of first collecting by taxation on the people a 
surplus revenue beyond the wants of that government, 
and then distributing such surplus, in the shape of dona- 
tions, among the States: a power which has not been 
conferred on that government by any express grant, nor 

2ois it an incident to any express power, " necessary and 
proper" for its execution. To concede such a power, 
would be to make the Federal government the tax- 
gatherer of the States, and accustom them to look to that 
source from which to supply the State treasuries, and to 

25 defray the expenses of the State governments. It is 
clear that this constituted no one of the objects of the 
creation of the Federal government; and to permit its 
exercise would be to reduce the States to the degraded 
condition of subordinate dependencies upon that govern- 

3oment, to destroy their separate and independent sover- 
eignty, and to make the government of the Union in 



JAMES KNOX POLK 125 

effect a consolidation. The power to make provision for 
the support of its own government, by the levy of the 
necessary taxes upon its own citizens, and the adoption 
of such measures of policy for its internal government not 
inconsistent with the Federal Constitution, as may be 5 
deemed proper and expedient, "remains to each State 
among its domestic and unalienated powers exercisible' 
within itself and by its domestic authorities alone." 

A surplus Federal revenue, raised by means of a tariff 
of duties, must necessarily be collected in unequal pro- 10 
portions from the people of the respective States. The 
planting and producing States must bear the larger por- 
tion of the burden. It was this inequality which has 
heretofore given rise to the just complaints of these 
States, as also of the commercial interests, against the 15 
operations of a high and protective tariff. If the pro- 
ceeds of the sales of the public lands be set apart for dis- 
tribution among the States, as has been sometimes pro- 
posed, the operation and effect would be the same ; for, 
by abstracting from the Federal treasury the proceeds of 20 
the sales of the public lands, a necessity is thereby created 
for an increased tariff to the amount thus abstracted. 
To collect a surplus revenue by unequal taxation, and 
then to return to the people, by a distribution among 
the States, their own money, in sums diminished by the 25 
amount of the cost of collection and distribution, aside 
from its manifest injustice, is a power which it could 
never have been intended to confer on the Federal Gov- 
ernment. 

When, from the unforeseen operation of the revenue 30 
laws of the United States, a surplus at any time exists 



126 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

or is likely to exist in the Federal treasury," the true 
remedy is, to reduce or to repeal the taxes so as to collect 
no more money than shall be absolutely necessary for 
the economical wants of that government, and thus leave 
5 what would otherwise be surplus uncollected in the 
pockets of the people. 

It becomes the duty of all the States, and especially of 
those whose constitutions recognize the existence of 
domestic slavery, to look with watchfulness to the attempts 

10 which have been recently made to disturb the rights 
secured to them by the Constitution of the United States. 
The agitation of the Abolitionists can by no possibility 
produce good to any portion of the Union, and must, if 
persisted in, lead to incalculable mischief. The institu- 

15 tion of domestic slavery, as it existed at the adoption of 
the Constitution of the United States, and as it still exists 
in some of the States, formed the subject of one of the 
compromises of opinion and of interests upon the settle- 
ment of which all the old States became parties to the 

20 compact and agreed to enter the Union. The new States 
were admitted into the Union upon an equal footing with 
the old States, and are equally bound by the terms of 
the compact. Any attempt on the part of the Federal 
government to act upon the subject of slavery, as it 

25 exists within the States, would be a clear infraction of the 
Constitution; and to disturb it within the District of 
Columbia, would be a palpable violation of the public 
faith, as well as of the clear meaning and obvious inten- 
tion of the framers of the Constitution. They intended 

30 to leave, and they did in fact leave, the subject to the 
exclusive regulation and action of the States and Terri- 



JAMES KNOX POLK 127 

tories within which slavery existed or might exist. They 
intended to place, and they did in fact place it, beyond 
the pale of action within the constitutional power of the 
Federal government. No power has been conferred upon 
the Federal government, either by express grant or s 
necessary implication, to take cognizance of, or in any 
manner or to any extent to interfere with 3 or to act upon 
the subject of domestic slavery, the existence of which in 
many of the States is expressly recognized by the Consti- 
tution of the United States. 10 

Whether the agitation we have recently witnessed upon 
this delicate and disturbing subject has proceeded from 
a mistaken philanthropy, as may have been the case with 
a few misguided persons; or whether there is, I regret 
to say, but too much reason to fear, from a desire on the 15 
part of many persons, who manifest by their conduct a 
reckless disregard of the harmony of the Union and of 
the public good, to convert it into a political engine, with 
a view to control elections, its progress should be firmly 
resisted by all the constitutional means within the power 20 
of the State. The most casual observer of passing events 
cannot fail to have seen that modern Abolitionism, with 
rare and few exceptions among its advocates, has become, 
to a great extent, purely a political question. That 
many of the leading abolitionists are active political par- 25 
tisans, fully identified with, and constituting no inconsid- 
erable part of, one of the political parties of the country, 
can no longer admit of doubt. They address them- 
selves to the prepossessions and prejudices of the com- 
munity in which they live, against slavery in the abstract, 30 
and, availing themselves of these prepossessions and 



128 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

prejudices, are struggling to control political events. All 
the lovers of the Union of the States, and all patriotic 
citizens, whether of the slaveholding or nonslaveholding 
States, who are ardently attached to our free institutions, 
5 must view with indignant reprobation the use made of 
such an unholy agitation with such objects. The attempts 
made to introduce it for discussion into the Federal 
Legislature have been met in the proper spirit, not only 
by Southern representatives, but by a large portion of the 

10 Northern delegation in Congress. It is fortunate for the 
country, that, in the midst of this agitation, there is at 
the head of the Federal government a Chief Magistrate 
who, in the patriotic discharge of his high duties, has 
placed the seal of his unqualified condemnation upon any 

15 attempted action by Congress upon the subject of slavery 
in any manner, or to any extent, whether existing within 
the States or within the District of Columbia. That he 
deserves and will receive the support of the States and 
of the people, in every portion of the Union, in maintain- 

20 ing his uncompromising and publicly declared determina- 
tion to preserve inviolate the compromises of the Federal 
Constitution and the reserved rights of the slaveholding 
States on this subject, cannot be doubted. 



WILLIAM CAMPBELL PRESTON 
Inaugural Address 

Young Gentlemen of the College : 

Entering upon the office to which the Trustees have 
appointed me, I have thought it not inappropriate to 
present myself to you, in a somewhat formal way, and to 
make a few remarks which the occasion seems to justify. 

The intimate relations which are hereafter to subsist 5 
between us, involving very grave responsibilities on my 
part, and the deepest interest of life on yours, will be the 
more readily and efficiently established by an exposition 
of my understanding of our most prominent, respective 
duties, and of the feelings and purposes with which I now 10 
assume mine. 

It has been the pleasure of the Trustees to call me from 
walks of life very remote from those I now enter upon. 
For many years, I have been busy amidst the active pur- 
suits of men, taking some part in affairs where the con- 15 
flict of interest, the collision of intellect, and the tumult 
of strenuous and stormy passions left but little leisure for 
those calm and meditative employments which are the 
occupation within these walls. 

After thirty years' absence from them, I return, but in 20 
a new and trying condition, with sympathies in all your 
pursuits, to be sure, and tastes not entirely alienated from 
k 129 



130 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

science and literature, but with a deep and fearful anxi- 
ety, that I may, indeed must be, unqualified to dis- 
charge the trust as it ought to be. Under a conscious 
deficiency, I would have shrunk from this office, but that 
5 I yielded my own opinion to that of those for whose judg- 
ment, experience, and knowledge of the institution, I 
have an entire deference. Of that Board of Trustees, 
whose command I obey, I can safely affirm, that having 
in the chances of life been occasionally thrown with men, 

10 distinguished by the consent of the whole country, I 
have not found anywhere, even in those exalted stations 
to which a nation's interests call its most conspicuous 
citizens, a wiser, or more highly endowed body. 

To its discretion and intelligence, the destinies of this 

15 cherished institution are well confided, and I hold myself 
ready to conform to its wishes with the same implicit 
confidence, whenever it may think fit to remit me to the 
pursuits of private life, as now, that I relinquish those 
pursuits in compliance with them. 

20 I have the more willingly acquiesced in their judgment, 
as it has been in favor of one who had differed with the 
State, on some important and exciting question. To be 
made its trusted agent under such circumstances, to be 
put without solicitation, in this place of confidence and 

25 honor, in which the interests, the hopes, and the affections 
of the State are so deeply implicated, fills me with grati- 
tude, and oppresses me with a painful sense of responsi- 
bility. In the swell of strong emotions which fill my 
heart, all vanity is quenched in the consciousness of in- 

30 adequacy to make a suitable return. 

What I bring, gentlemen, to my station, and what I 



WILLIAM CAMPBELL PRESTON 131 

trust may in some sort make amends for my deficiencies, 
in other respects is, a deep and reverential love for this 
my Alma Mater, — a solemn sense of my duties, and I 
may be permitted to say, a love of letters, not altogether 
extinguished by contact with the world. Nor am I in- 5 
sensible in adopting this course of life, to the pleasing • 
satisfaction (as Cicero says) of seeing myself surrounded 
by a circle of ingenuous youths, and conciliating by 
laudable means their esteem and affection. There cer- 
tainly cannot be a more important or honorable occupa- 10 
tion than to instruct the rising generation in the duties to 
which they may hereafter be called, — and I hope I may, 
without the imputation of arrogance, be allowed to adopt 
another sentiment of that illustrious Roman : — 

"Ac fuit quidem cum mihi quoque initium requiescendi, 15 
atque animum ad utriusque nostrum prseclara studia 
referendi, fore justum et prope ab omnibus concessum 
arbitrarer — si infinitus f orensium rerum labor, et ambi- 
tionis occupatio, decursu honorum, etiam aetatis fluxu, 
constitisset. " 20 

In the pleasing task to which I now address myself, it 
will be my constant effort to promote your studies, and 
to prepare you for the duties of life (more important than 
life itself), with such stores of learning as may be acquired 
here, but more especially with ardent and virtuous aspi- 25 
rations to acquit yourselves with honor hereafter. 

The immediate and ostensible object of our association 
is the pursuit of learning, and this might seem to be our 
sole purpose, but in truth learning is only a means to 
the great end we have in view. It is an instrument 30 
which is prepared and fashioned here, with some instruc- 



132 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

tions as to the mode of using it. It is but the armor, 
but a part of the armor, to be worn in the battlefield of 
life for the achievement of honorable and glorious vic- 
tories, for the triumph of truth over error, of virtue over 
5 vice, of right over wrong. And although I cherish the 
conviction that there is a natural and intimate connection 
between knowledge and virtue, yet I know that they are 
not inseparable. There have been melancholy instances 
of great intellectual power, united to acquisitions from 

10 the whole circle of learning, without corresponding moral 
elevation. These, however, I regard as anomalies ; I re- 
joice to believe that in the general order of Providence, 
whatever enlarges and exalts the intellect, promotes, 
purines, and invigorates the virtues of the heart. If I 

15 did not believe in such a connection, I would abandon 
myself to indolence and despair. But the noble distinc- 
tive faculties of man, whose combination constitutes his 
dignity and glory, are harmonized by his Creator into a 
concerted action for a common purpose. Whatever en- 

20 lightens the mind improves the heart, as the sun which 
illuminates the atmosphere warms the earth, and although 
it may happen that his beams are reflected from fields of 
ice, yet his general mission is to call forth whatever is 
useful and beautiful, and impregnate with vitality the 

25 whole body of nature. True knowledge is the knowledge 
of truth; as it is said in the fine arts, that nothing is 
beautiful but the true, so, in the wide signification of the 
word, it may be said that nothing is good but the true. 
To confer upon learning its just dignity and importance, 

30 it must be considered as subsidiary and auxiliary to the 
paramount ends of our being. It must always have in 



WILLIAM CAMPBELL PRESTON 133 

view our responsibilities in this life, and the awful re- 
sponsibilities of a far more exceeding weight hereafter. 
You are to be made intellectual men, that you may be 
fit moral agents : so that as you advance in learning, you 
may advance in the knowledge and appreciation of virtue, 5 
remembering always that the lamp which you light up is 
not a gaudy show, to please by its variegated radiance, 
but is intended for a more useful and noble purpose, to 
show you, amidst the double night of error and of passion 
which obscures your journey through life, the only ways 10 
of pleasantness and paths of peace. Undoubtedly learn- 
ing of itself is graceful and ornamental, and knowledge is 
power, but learning and knowledge attain their true 
beauty and full power only when united to virtue, and 
this union is ennobled, and, so to speak, sanctified by 15 
piety, — making the highest condition of our nature. — 
Learning, — morality, — religion, — these are your great 
objects. These, in the right understanding of them, in- 
clude all that is desirable. They comprehend those lesser 
morals, the aggregate of which make a gentleman fitted 20 
to adorn and delight society, — they comprehend all those 
sentiments which become a citizen born to a participation 
in the government of the commonwealth, and all those 
deep convictions and lofty aspirations which belong to 
heirs of eternity. This is my conception of the object 25 
and purposes for which we are associated. If we can 
persuade you to entertain a corresponding idea of your 
duties, our task will be an easy one. We shall be joint 
laborers in the same field, cheered by the sure prospect 
of a luxuriant harvest. This, our seedtime, will be a 30 
season of hope and joy, while we look forward with eager 



134 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

and confident anticipation to the glories of a rich harvest, 
and still further to the garnering of it where there is no 
rust, and the thieves cannot break through nor steal. 
But besides the ulterior and paramount value of the 
5 moral sentiment to which I have alluded, they are of im- 
mediate and vital consequence to us here. The good 
order and successful administration of the college depend 
entirely upon their influence. 

You have passed the period of coercion, and already 

10 are moral agents. In all communities laws avail but little 
without a prevailing sentiment to sustain and carry them 
out in their true spirit. "Quid valeant leges sine mori- 
bus," is true everywhere, but most emphatically true here ; 
our government resolves itself almost entirely into an 

15 appeal to the sense of honor and duty, without which 
our laws are nugatory, and their impotent penalties carry 
no sanction. The fear of the law which prompts to a 
cold and reluctant observance of it, may secure from 
punishment, but, as a principle of action, must always fail 

20 of any honorable success, and the government whose 
efficiency depends solely upon it, must fail in its main 
objects. 

You cannot, young gentlemen, — you ought not to be 
governed by mere dint of law, — you must feel that 

25 there are other and higher rules than it imposes, — in- 
deed other and higher laws than are to be found in our 
statutes, — laws in your own bosoms, written on your 
nearts, — the penalty for disobedience to which is the 
consciousness of wrong, — and the reward of obedience, 

30 the consciousness of right. 

It may, and perhaps must be necessary, wherever 



WILLIAM CAMPBELL PRESTON 135 

human nature is to be governed, to invoke the inter- 
position of the law, — but our habitual and by far most 
pleasant, and as we hope, most efficient appeal, will be 
to your honor and sense of right. 

We do not indulge the chimerical expectation that as 
moral discipline can be so far enforced as to supersede an 
occasional application of penal laws. Our observation of 
life permits no such hope, for in no association whatever, 
— not senates or councils, can be regulated by the mere 
discretion of the members, — much less can it be expected 10 
from the thoughtlessness and passions of the young. Acts 
of discipline must occur, and when the occasion requires 
them, they will be firmly and promptly applied, — but 
what we do calculate on, is the prevalence of a pervading 
sentiment, that will render such necessity infrequent, — a 15 
sentiment which will inspire more fear of offense than of 
punishment. 

The impulsiveness and impatience belonging to your 
time of life, naturally make the degree of exertion and 
industry requisite to your proper advancement, irksome 20 
and painful to you. Indolence presents herself to the 
young, — aye ! and to the old, — in a thousand seducing 
forms. Industry is of a harsh and crabbed aspect. The 
one seems to point to a smooth and flowery path, — the 
other to a rugged and painful ascent, — but around that 25 
seducing path lurk all the ills of life, — and that toilsome 
ascent, at every step opens wider and wider a broad and 
beautiful prospect, and leads eventually to those eleva- 
tions to which the noble spirit aspires. 

Industry is the prolific mother of many virtues. She 30 
produces as well as sustains them — they all cluster 



136 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

around and nestle about her, growing and strengthening 
by her care. Genius itself, that divine quality which 
seems to be instinct with innate power, and to rise by its 
own upward tendency, — genius itself, is plumed for its 
5 highest flights, and trained to them by industry. It is 
an utter mistake to imagine that any endowment can 
dispense with labor. It is a fatal error into which young 
men fall, — no great achievement ever has or ever can 
be effected without it, — the mode of its application may 

10 be obscure, but its presence is not the less certain. We 
have heard of the "forest-born Demosthenes/' — of 
"nature's darling," — of the "blind old man of Scio's 
rocky isle." These were men of genius, unquestionably, 
— but Henry, and Shakespeare, and Homer, were also 

15 men of labor, — they had the blessing of inspiration, 
but the blessing came to them after they had wrestled 
all night. 

Our intercourse, I trust, will be characterized by the 
courtesy becoming gentlemen. My government, I hope, 

20 will be animated by the vigilance and tempered by the 
affection of a parent. If I see you preparing yourselves 
to go home to delight a father's heart, my bosom will 
swell with a parent's pride, and my vanity will be gratified 
if your proficiency authorizes me to believe that when the 

25 State shall hereafter point to its jewels, I may say I helped 
to fashion them." 

I trust also, gentlemen, that both our official and social 
relations, may be such, that when you go into the world, 
and ascertain by experience the value of the lessons 

3° taught here, you will remember the College with affection, 
and me with no indifferent feelings, and meet me, when 



WILLIAM CAMPBELL PRESTON 137 

the chances of life throw us together, not without emo- 
tion. 

Young gentlemen, tf I were better qualified than I am 
for this office, I know how vain^ my efforts must be, even 
with the assistance of my able colleagues and your zealous 5 
cooperation, without the gracious protection and help 
of our Heavenly Father. To Him, then, and to His 
beneficent providence, I humbly and earnestly commend 
the issue of this undertaking. 



HENRY CLAY 

A Plea for the Union 

Mr. President, this Union is threatened with subver- 
sion. I desire to take a very rapid glance at the course 
of public measures in this Union presently. I wanted, 
however, before I did that, to ask the Senate to look 
5 back upon the career which this country has run from 
the adoption of the Constitution down to the present 
day. Was there ever a nation upon which the sun of 
heaven has shone which has exhibited so much of pros- 
perity as our own? At the commencement of this 

i o government, our population amounted to about four 
millions. It has now reached upwards of twenty millions. 
Our territory was limited chiefly and principally to that 
bordering upon the Atlantic Ocean, and that which 
includes the southern shores of the interior lakes of our 

15 country. Our territory now extends from the northern 
provinces of Great Britain to the Rio Grande and the 
Gulf of Mexico; from the Atlantic Ocean on the one side, 
to the Pacific on the other ; the largest extent of territory 
under one government existing upon earth, with only two 

20 solitary exceptions. Our tonnage, from being nothing, 

has risen to a magnitude and amount to rival that of 

the nation which has been proudly called the mistress 

of the ocean. We have gone through many wars; one 

138 



HENRY CLAY 139 

with that very nation from whom, in 1776, we broke off, 
as weak and feeble colonies, when we asserted our inde- 
pendence as a member of the family of nations. And, 
sir, we came out of that struggle — unequal as it was, 
armed as she was at all points, in consequence of the long 5 
struggles of Europe, and unarmed as we were at all points, 
in consequence of the habits and nature of our country 
and its institutions — we came out of that war without 
the loss of any honor whatever; we emerged from it 
gloriously. In every Indian war — we have been en- 10 
gaged in many of them — our arms have been triumphant. 
And without speaking at all as to the causes of the recent 
war with Mexico, whether they were right or wrong, 
and abstaining from the expression of any opinion as 
to the justice or propriety of the war when it commenced, 15 
all must unite in respect to the gallantry of our arms, 
and the glory of our triumphs. There is no page — 
there are no pages of history, which record more brilliant 
successes. With respect to the one in command of an 
important portion of our army, I need say nothing in 20 
praise of him who has been borne by the voice of his 
country to the highest station in it, mainly on account of 
his glorious military career. But of another military 
commander, less fortunate in other respects, I must take 
the opportunity of saying, that for skill — for science 25 
— for strategy — for bold and daring fighting — for 
chivalry of individuals and of masses — that portion 
of the Mexican war which was conducted by the gallant 
Scott as chief commander, stands unrivaled either by 
the deeds of Cortes himself, or by those of any other 3° 
commander in ancient or modern times. 



140 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

Our prosperity is unbounded. Nay, Mr. President, 
I sometimes fear that it is the very wantonness of our 
prosperity that leads us to these threatening ills of the 
moment, that restlessness and these erratic schemes 
5 throughout the whole country, some of which have even 
found their way into legislative halls. We want, I fear, 
the chastising wand of Heaven to bring us back to a 
sense of the immeasurable benefits and blessings which 
have been bestowed upon us by Providence. At this 

10 moment, with the exception of here and there a partic- 
ular department in the manufacturing business of the 
country, all is prosperous and happy — both the rich 
and poor. Our nation has grown to a magnitude in power 
and in greatness, to command the respect, if it does not 

15 call for the apprehensions of all the powers of the earth 
with which we can come in contact. Sir, do I depict 
with colors too lively the prosperity which has resulted 
to us from the operation of the Constitution under which 
we live? Have I exaggerated in any degree? 

20 Now, let me go a little into detail as to the sway in 
the councils of the nation, whether of the North or of the 
South, during the sixty years of unparalleled prosperity 
that we enjoy. During the first twelve years of the ad- 
ministration of the government, Northern counsels rather 

25 prevailed ; and out of them sprung the Bank of the United 
States; the assumption of the State debts; bounties 
to the fisheries ; protection to the domestic manufactures 
— I allude to the Act of 1789 ; neutrality in the wars 
with Europe; Jay's treaty; alien and sedition laws; 

30 and a quasi war with France. I do not say, sir, that those 
leading and prominent measures which were adopted 



HENRY CLAY 141 

during the administration of Washington and the elder 
Adams were carried exclusively by Northern counsels. 
They could not have been, but were carried mainly by 
the sway which Northern counsels had obtained in the 
affairs of the country. 5 

So, also, with the latter party, for the last fifty years. 
I do not mean to say that Southern counsels alone have 
carried the measures which I am about to enumerate. 
I know they could not exclusively have carried them ; but 
I say they have been carried by their preponderating in- 10 
fluence, with cooperation, it is true, and large cooperation, 
in some instances, from the northern section of the Union. 

And what are those measures during the fifty years 
that Southern counsels have perponderated ? The em- 
bargo and other commercial restrictions of noninter- 15 
course and nonimportation; war with Great Britain; 
the Bank of the United States overthrown; protection 
to domestic manufactures enlarged and extended (I 
allude to the passage of the Act of 1815 or 1816) ; the Bank ' 
of the United States reestablished ; the same bank put 20 
down ; reestablished by Southern counsels and put down 
by Southern counsels; Louisiana acquired; Florida 
bought; Texas annexed; war with Mexico; California 
and other Territories acquired from Mexico by conquest 
and purchase ; protection superseded and free trade 25 
established; Indians removed west of the Missouri; 
fifteen new States admitted into the Union. I may 
very possibly have omitted some of the important measures 
which have been adopted during the later period or time 
to which I have referred — the last fifty years ; but these 30 
I believe are the most prominent. 



142 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

I do not deduce from the enumeration of the acts of 
the one side or the other, any just cause of reproach to 
the one side or the other, although one side or the other 
has predominated in the two periods to which I have 
5 referred. It has been at least the work of both, and 
neither need justly reproach the other. But I must say, 
in all candor and sincerity, that least of all ought the South 
to reproach the North, when we look at the long list of 
measures we have had under our sway in the councils of 

10 the nation, and which have been adopted as the policy 
of the government; when we reflect that even opposite 
doctrines have been prominently advanced by the South 
and carried at different times. A Bank of the United 
States was established under the administration of Mr. 

15 Madison, with the cooperation of the South. I do not, 
when I speak of the South or the North, speak of the 
entire South or North: I speak of the prominent and 
larger proportion of the South or North. It was during 
Mr. Madison's administration that the Bank of the United 

20 States was established. The friend [Mr. Calhoun] 
whose sickness I again deplore, as it prevents us from 
having his attendance here upon this occasion, was the 
chairman of the committee of the House of Representa- 
tives, and carried the measure through Congress. I 

25 voted for it with all my heart, although I had been in- 
strumental in putting down the old Bank of the United 
States. I had changed my mind; and I cooperated in 
the establishment of the bank of 1816. That same bank 
was again put down by Southern counsels, with General 

3° Jackson at their head, at a later period. Then, with 
respect to the policy of protection: the South in 1815 



HENRY CLAY 143 

— I mean the prominent and leading men of the South, 
Lowndes, Calhoun, and others — united in extending 
a certain measure of protection to the domestic manu- 
factures of the South, as well as of the North. You 
find, a few years afterwards, that the South opposes 5 
the most serious objection to this policy, at least one mem- 
ber of the Union staking upon that objection the dis- 
solution of the Union. 

Let us take another view; and of these several views 
no one is brought forward in any spirit of reproach, but 10 
in a spirit of conciliation — not to provoke or exasperate, 
but to quiet and produce harmony and repose, if possible. 
What have been the territorial acquisitions made by this 
country, and to what interests have they conduced? 
Florida, where slavery exists, has been introduced. All 15 
the most valuable parts of Louisiana have also added 
to the extent and consideration of the slaveholding por- 
tion of the Union ; for although there is a large extent 
of that territory north of 36° 30', yet, in point of intrinsic 
value and importance, I would not give the single State 20 
of Louisiana for the whole of it. All Louisiana, with the 
exception of what lies north of 36° 30', including Oregon, 
to which we obtained title mainly on the ground of its 
being a part of the acquisition of Louisiana; all Texas, 
all the Territories which have been acquired by the govern- 25 
ment of the United States during sixty years of the opera- 
tion of that government, have been slave Territories — 
theaters of slavery — with the exception I have mentioned 
lying north of the line of 36° 30'. But how was it in the 
case of a war made essentially by the South, growings 
out of the annexation of Texas, which was a measure 



144 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

pressed by the South upon the councils of the country, 
and which led to the war with Mexico? I do not say 
of the whole South; but a major portion of the South 
pressed the annexation of Texas upon the country, and 
5 that led to a war with Mexico, and to the ultimate ac- 
quisition of these Territories, which now constitute the 
bone of contention between the members of the Con- 
federacy. And now, when, for the first time, any free 
Territory — after * these great acquisitions in Florida,, 

10 Louisiana, and Texas, had been made and redounded 
to the benefit of the South — now, when, for the first 
time, free Territories are attempted to be introduced — 
Territories without the institution of slavery, I put it 
to the hearts of my countrymen of the South, if it is right 

15 to press matters to the disastrous consequences that have 
been intimated no longer ago than this very morning, 
upon the presentation of the resolutions from North 
Carolina. 

A Senator here offered to move an adjournment. 

20 Mr. Clay. Mr. President, I hope the Senate will only 
have the goodness — if I don't tire out their patience, 
to permit me to go on. I would prefer concluding to-day. 
I begin to see land. I shall pretty soon arrive at the end. 
I had much rather occupy half an hour now than leave 

25 what I have to say for to-morrow — to trespass upon the 
patience of the Senate another day. 

Such is the Union, and such are its glorious fruits. 
We are told now, and it is rung throughout this entire 
country, that the Union is threatened with subversion 

30 and destruction. Well, the first question which naturally 
arises is, supposing the Union to be dissolved — having 



HENRY CLAY 145 

all the causes of grievances which are complained of — 
how far will a dissolution furnish a remedy for those 
grievances? If the Union is to be dissolved for any 
existing causes, it will be dissolved because slavery is 
interdicted or not allowed to be introduced into the ceded s 
Territories ; because slavery is threatened to be abolished 
in the District of Columbia, and because fugitive slaves 
are not returned, as in my opinion they ought to be, 
restored to their masters. These I believe will be the 
causes, if there be any causes, which can lead to the direful 10 
event to which I have referred. 

Well, now, let us suppose that the Union has been dis- 
solved. What remedy does it furnish for the grievances 
complained of in its united condition? Will you be able 
to push slavery into the ceded Territories? How are 15 
you to do it, supposing the North — all the States north 
of the Potomac, and which are opposed to it — in posses- 
sion of the navy and army of the United States? Can 
you expect, if there is a dissolution of the Union, that you 
can carry slavery into California and New Mexico ? You 20 
cannot dream of such a purpose. If it were abolished 
in the District of Columbia, and the Union was dissolved, 
would the dissolution of the Union restore slavery in the 
District of Columbia? Are you safer in the recovery of 
your fugitive slaves in a state of dissolution or of sever- 25 
ance of the Union, than you are in the Union itself? 
Why, what is the state of the fact in the Union? You 
lose some slaves. You recover some others. Let me 
advert to a fact which I ought to have introduced before, 
because it is highly creditable to the courts and juries 30 
of the free States. In every case, so far as my informa- 

L 



146 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

tion extends, where an appeal has been made to the courts 
of justice for the recovery of fugitives, or for the recovery 
of penalties inflicted upon persons who have assisted in 
decoying slaves from their masters and aiding them in 
5 escaping from their masters — as far as I am informed, 
the courts have asserted the rights of the owner, and the 
juries have promptly returned adequate verdicts in favor 
of the owner. Well, this is some remedy. What would 
you have if the Union were dissevered ? Why, sir, then 

10 the severed parts would be independent of each other — 
foreign countries ! Slaves taken from the one into the 
other would be there like slaves now escaping from the 
United States into Canada. There would be no right of 
extradition — no right to demand your slaves — no right 

15 to appeal to the courts of justice to demand your slaves 
which escape, or the penalties for decoying them. Where 
one slave escapes now, by running away from his owner, 
hundreds and thousands would escape if the Union were 
severed in parts — I care not where nor how you run the 

20 line, if independent sovereignties were established. 

Well, finally, will you, in a state of dissolution of the 
Union, be safer with your slaves within the bosom of 
the States than you are now? Mr. President, that they 
will escape much more frequently from the border States, 

25 no one will doubt. 

But, I must take the occasion to say that, in my opinion, 
there is no right on the part of one or more of the States 
to secede from the Union. War and the dissolution of 
the Union are identical and inseparable. There can be 

30 no dissolution of the Union, except by consent or by war. 
No one can expect, in the existing state of things, that that 



HENRY CLAY 147 

consent would be given, and war is the only alternative 
by which a dissolution could be accomplished. And, 
Mr. President, if consent were given — if possibly we were 
to separate by mutual agreement and by a given line, 
in less than sixty days after such an agreement had been s 
executed, war would break out between the free and slave- 
holding portions of this Union — between the two in- 
dependent portions into which it would be erected in 
virtue of the act of separation. Yes, sir, sixty days — 
in less time than sixty days, I believe, our slaves from 10 
Kentucky would be fleeing over in numbers to the other 
side of the river, would be pursued by their owners, and 
the excitable and ardent spirits who would engage in the 
pursuit would be restrained by no sense of the rights 
which appertain to the independence of the other side 15 
of the river, supposing it, then, to be the line of separa- 
tion. They would pursue their slaves; they would be 
repelled, and war would break out. In less than sixty 
days, war would be blazing forth in every part of this now 
happy and peaceable land. 20 

But how are you going to separate them? In my 
humble opinion, Mr. President, we should begin at least 
with three Confederacies — the Confederacy of the North, 
the Confederacy of the Atlantic Southern States (the 
slaveholding States), and the Confederacy of the Valley 25 
of the Mississippi. My life upon it, sir, that vast popula- 
tion that has already concentrated, and will concentrate, 
upon the head waters and tributaries of the Mississippi, 
will never consent that the mouth of that river shall be 
held subject to the power of any foreign State whatever. 30 
Such, I believe, would be the consequences of a dissolution 



148 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

of the Union. But other confederacies would spring up, 
from time to time, as dissatisfaction and discontent were 
disseminated over the country. There would be the 
Confederacy of the Lakes — perhaps the Confederacy 

5 of New England, and of the Middle States. 

But, sir, the veil which covers these sad and disastrous 
events that lie beyond a possible rupture of this Union 
is too thick to be penetrated or lifted by any mortal eye 
or hand. 

10 Mr. President, I am directly opposed to any purpose 
of secession, of separation. I am for staying within the 
Union, and defying any portion of this Union to expel 
or drive me out of the Union. I am for staying within 
the Union, and fighting for my rights — if necessary, 

X S with the sword — within the bounds and under the safe- 
guard of the Union. I am for vindicating these rights; 
but not by being driven out of the Union rashly and un- 
ceremoniously by any portion of this Confederacy. Here 
I am within it, and here I mean to stand and die ; as far 

20 as my individual purposes or wishes can go — within it 
to protect myself, and to defy all power upon earth to 
expel me or drive me from the situation in which I am 
placed. Will there not be more safety in fighting within 
the Union than without it? 

25 Suppose your rights to be violated; suppose wrongs 
to be done you, aggressions to be perpetrated upon you, 
cannot you better fight and vindicate them, if you have 
occasion to resort to that last necessity of the sword, 
within the Union, and with the sympathies of a large 

30 portion of the population of the Union of these states 
differently constituted from you, than you can fight 



HENRY CLAY 149 

and vindicate your rights, expelled from the Union, and 
driven from it without ceremony and without authority ? 
I said that I thought that there was no right on the part 
of one or more of the States to secede from this Union. 
I think that the Constitution of the thirteen States was 5 
made, not merely for the generation which then existed, 
but for posterity, undefined, unlimited, permanent, and 
perpetual — for their posterity, and for every subse- 
quent State which might come into the Union, binding 
themselves by that indissoluble bond. It is to remain 10 
for that posterity now and forever. Like another of 
the great relations of private life, it was a marriage that 
no human authority can dissolve or divorce the parties 
from; and, if I may be allowed to refer to this same 
example in private life, let us say what man and wife say 15 
to each other: We have mutual faults; nothing in the 
form of human beings can be perfect; let us, then, be 
kind to each other, forbearing, conceding; let us live in 
happiness and peace. 

Mr. President, I have said what I solemnly believe — 20 
that the dissolution of the Union and war are identical 
and inseparable; that they are convertible terms. 

Such a war, too, as that would be, following the dis- 
solution of the Union ! Sir, we may search the pages of 
history, and none so furious, so bloody, so implacable, 25 
so exterminating, from the wars of Greece down, including 
those of the Commonwealth of England, and the revolu- 
tion of France — none, none of them raged with such vio- 
lence, or was ever conducted with such bloodshed and 
enormities as will that war which shall follow that disas- 30 
trous event — if that, event ever happens — of dissolution. 



150 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

And what would be its termination ? Standing armies 
and navies, to an extent draining the revenues of each 
portion of the dissevered empire, would be created; 
exterminating wars would follow — not a war of two or 
5 three years, but of interminable duration — an exter- 
minating war would follow, until some Philip or Alexander, 
some Caesar or Napoleon, would rise to cut the Gordian 
knot, and solve the problem of the capacity of man for 
self-government, and crush the liberties of both the 

10 dissevered portions of this Union. Can you doubt it? 
Look at history — consult the pages of all history, ancient 
or modern : look at human nature — look at the character 
of the contest in which you would be engaged in the 
supposition of a war following the dissolution of the Union, 

1 5 such as I have suggested — and I ask you if it is possible 
for you to doubt that the final but perhaps distant ter- 
mination of the whole will be some despot treading down 
the liberties of the people ? — that the final result will be 
the extinction of this last and glorious light which is lead- 

20 ing all mankind, who are gazing upon it, to cherish hope 
and anxious expectation that the liberty which pre- 
vails here will sooner or later be advanced throughout 
the civilized world ? Can you, Mr. President, lightly con- 
template the consequences? Can you yield yourself to 

25 a torrent of passion, amidst dangers which I have depicted 
in colors far short of what would be the reality, if the event 
should ever happen? I conjure gentlemen — whether 
from the South or the North, by all they hold dear in this 
world — by all their love of liberty — by all their venera- 

3° tion for their ancestors — by all their regard for posterity 
— by all their gratitude to Him who has bestowed upon 



HENRY CLAY 151 

them such unnumbered blessings — by all the duties which 
they owe to mankind, and all the duties they owe to them- 
selves — by all these considerations I implore them to 
pause — solemnly to pause — at the edge of the precipice, 
before the fearful and disastrous leap is taken in the 5 
yawning abyss below, which will inevitably lead to certain 
and irretrievable destruction. 

And, finally, Mr. President, I implore, as the best 
blessing which Heaven can bestow upon me upon earth, 
that if the direful and sad event of the dissolution of the ic 
Union shall happen, I may not survive to behold the sad 
and heartrending spectacle. 



ALEXANDER HAMILTON STEPHENS 

The South 's Rights in the Union and in the Public 
Domain 

We hear a great deal about settlement, adjustment, 
compromise, harmony, and union. Now I am for all 
these. I am no enemy to the Union. And those of this 
House who know much of me, know full well that I mean 

5 exactly what I say. I repeat, I am no enemy to the 
Union — and I am for its preservation and its perpetua- 
tion, if it can be done upon principles of equality and 
justice. Attachment to the Union with me and with the 
South generally, I think, is a sentiment of patriotism — 

10 it grows out of the recollections of the past, the glories of 
the present, and the hopes of the future. It arises from 
no base calculation of dollars and cents. But I tell 
gentlemen of the North it is for them now to determine 
whether it shall be preserved or not. In point of money 

15 value, I think it is worth more to the North than to the 
South. We have heard but little from gentlemen from 
that section, for eight months past, but eulogies upon the 
Union. If they are sincere in the expression of this deep 
devotion to the institutions of our fathers, it is time for 

20 them to present the offering which they are willing to 

152 



ALEXANDER HAMILTON STEPHENS 153 

make upon the altar of our common country for its preser- 
vation. If they expect the South to make all the sacri- 
fices, to yield everything, and to permit them to carry 
out their sectional policy under the cry of "our glorious 
Union/ ' they will find themselves most sadly mistaken. 5 
It is time for mutual concessions. This Union was formed 
for the protection of the lives, the liberty, and the property 
of those who entered into it, and those who should fill 
their places after them. Allegiance and protection are 
reciprocal ; where no protection is extended, no rightful 10 
allegiance can be claimed. And no people, in my judg- 
ment, who deserve the name of freemen, will continue 
their allegiance to any government which arrays itself not 
only against their property, but against their social and 
civil organization. If you, gentlemen of the North, then, 15 
intend to ingraft upon the policy of this common govern- 
ment your antislavery views, and to make its action con- 
form to your sectional purposes, it is useless to say 
anything more of compromise, settlement, adjustment, or 
union. It is as well for us to come to a distinct under- 20 
standing upon the subject at once. I do not place a low 
estimate upon the value of the Union to the South ; but 
I do not consider its dissolution, with all the manifold 
attending evils of such an event in full view before me, as 
the greatest calamity that could befall us. Far from it. 25 
There is no evil which can fall upon any people, in my 
opinion, equal to that of the degradation which always 
follows a submission to insult, injury, outrage, and aggres- 
sion. And whenever this government is brought in hostile 
array against me and mine, I am for disunion — openly, 30 
boldly, and fearlessly, for revolution. I speak plainly. 



154 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

Gentlemen may call this " treason" if they please. Sir, 
epithets have no terrors for me. The charge of "traitor" 
may be whispered in the ears of the timid and craven- 
hearted. It is the last appeal of tyrants. It is no new 
5 word of modern coinage. It is a term long since familiar 
to those who know how freedom is lost and how freedom 
may be won. And I say here, in the presence of this 
House, in broad day, that I will acknowledge allegiance 
to no government that puts the property of the people to 

10 which I belong out of the pale of the law, and which 
attempts to fix public odium and reprobation upon their 
social order and civil organization. When that day comes, 
if it ever does, "down with the government" will be my 
motto and watchword. When I am outlawed by you, I 

15 shall become your implacable enemy. I shall never kiss 
the rod that smites me. And no people who do not 
deserve to be scoffed at, trampled upon, and kicked by 
their oppressors, will. I told you that we might as well 
talk plainly upon this subject, and I intend to do it. 

20 And it is for you now, who have nothing on your lips but 
"union"- if you are in earnest in your professions, to come 
forward and assist in devising the ways and means of 
sustaining it. I have on a former occasion given my 
views upon the subject of our differences, and I intend 

25 to repeat them before I close; but I have not yet heard 
anything from those who compose the majority in this 
House of a conciliatory character. If your only reliance 
for harmony, peace, and union is force, come out and say 
so ; or if you have any plan of conciliation, submit it. I 

30 am for conciliation, if it can be accomplished upon any 
reasonable and just principles. I am also for making a 



ALEXANDER HAMILTON STEPHENS 155 

clean business of it. I am for no partial arrangement. 
If we aim at peace, let us have no temporary truce, but 
permanent quiet and repose. This, in my opinion, can 
only be done by a settlement of all the questions growing 
out of these territorial acquisitions upon liberal and 5 
proper terms. What are such terms? This is the prac- 
tical point for us now to consider. 

The gentleman from Pennsylvania [Mr. Wilmot] said 
the other day, that these agitations would never cease 
until the South ceased her endeavors to force the general 10 
government to conform its policy to their sectional views 
and interests. This was the purport of his remarks, if I 
heard him correctly. In this he virtually charged that 
these agitations came from the South, and without just 
cause. And the correctness of this accusation I deny. 15 
When, let me ask that gentleman, did the South ever 
attempt to control the action of this government for the 
promotion of her peculiar interests? When did she ever 
ask this government to pass any law for the promotion 
of her interests? The North has repeatedly asked for 20 
tariff acts and navigation acts, upon which their interests 
so much depend — which have been repeatedly granted. 
It is true that men from the South have often voted for 
such measures when presented and urged by the North — 
not because the South was particularly interested in them, 25 
but because the North was, and they were willing to ad- 
vance the interests of the North, when, in their opinion, 
they could do so without injury or detriment to other 
sections. But when did the South ever invoke the action 
of this government for its exclusive benefit? I ask for 30 
the instance to be named. I recollect but one, and that 



156 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

is the passage of a law more effectually to secure the 
rendition of fugitives from labor; which is our right ex- 
pressly guaranteed under the Constitution ; and this you 
continue to refuse us. And how is it upon this very 
5 territorial question which is now the source of the excite- 
ment, which the gentleman from Pennsylvania says will 
never be allayed until the South ceases her endeavors to 
gain an unjustifiable control over the action of the gov- 
ernment? How does this case stand? Who is it that is 

10 attempting to control the policy of the government to 
carry out their sectional views and purposes? 

A public domain has been acquired by the common 
blood and common treasure of all, and the South, who is 
charged with endeavoring to control the government for 

X S their purposes, asks nothing but that the common terri- 
tory, which is the public property, may be opened to the 
entry and settlement and equal enjoyment of all the 
citizens of every part of the Republic, with their property 
of every description; while it is the North who comes 

20 here and demands that the whole of this common domain 
shall be set apart exclusively for themselves, or for them- 
selves and such persons from the South as will strip 
themselves of a certain species of their property, and con- 
form their views to the policy of the North. I submit it 

25 to every candid man in this House, and to every intelli- 
gent and candid man in the world, outside of the House, 
if this is not a fair statement of the question? The 
South asks no discrimination in her favor. It is the 
North that is seeking to obtain discriminations against her 

30 and her people. And who leads in this endeavor to con- 
trol the action of the government for sectional objects? 



ALEXANDER HAMILTON STEPHENS 157 

It is the gentleman himself, who brings this charge against 
the South. Sir, I deny the charge, and repel it. And I 
tell that gentleman, and the House, if these agitations are 
not to cease until the South shall quietly and silently 
yield to these demands of the North, it is useless to talk 5 
of any amicable settlement of the matters in controversy. 
If that is the basis you propose, we need say nothing 
further about agreement or adjustment — upon those 
terms we can never settle. The people of the South have 
as much right to occupy, enjoy, and colonize, these Terri- 10 
tories with their property, as the people of the North 
have with theirs. This is the basis upon which I stand, 
and the principles upon which it rests are as immutable 
as right and justice. They are the principles of natural 
law, founded in natural justice, as recognized by the 15 
ablest publicists who have written upon the laws of 
nations and the rights pertaining to conquests. These 
acquisitions belong to the whole people of the United 
States, as conquerors. They hold them under the Con- 
stitution, and the general government as common property 20 
in a corporate capacity. 

Vattel, in treating on this subject in his work on the 
laws of nations, says (book 1, chap. 20, p. 113) : — 

"All members of a corporation have an equal right to the 
use of the common 'property. But respecting the manner of 25 
enjoying it, the body of the corporation may make such regu- 
lations as they may think proper, provided that those regu- 
lations be not inconsistent with that equality of right which ought 
to be preserved in a communion of property. Thus a corpora- 
tion may determine the use of a common forest or a common 30 
pasture, either allotting it to all the members, according to their 



158 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

wants, or allotting each an equal share; but they have not a 
right to exclude any one of the members, or to make a distinction 
to his disadvantage, by assigning him a less share than that of the 
others. 

5 The principles here set forth are those upon which I 
place the merits and justice of our cause. Under our 
Constitution, the power of making regulations for the 
enjoyment of the common domain devolves upon Con- 
gress, the common agent of all the parties interested in it. 

10 In the execution of this trust, it is the duty of Congress 
to pass all laws necessary for an equal and just participa- 
tion in it. And so far from this common agent having 
any right to exclude a portion of the people, or "to make 
distinctions to their disadvantage/' it is the duty of Con- 

15 gress to open the country by the removal of all obstruc- 
tions, whether they be existing laws or anything else, 
and to give equal protection to all who may avail them- 
selves of the right to use it. But you men of the North 
say that we of the South wish to carry our slaves there 

20 and that the free labor of the North cannot submit to the 
degradation of being associated with slave labor. Well, 
then, we say, as the patriarch of old said to his friend and 
kinsman, when disputes arose between the herdmen of 
their cattle : "Let there be no strife, I pray thee, between 

25 me and thee, and between my herdmen and thy herdmen, 
for we be brethren. Is not the whole land before thee? 
Separate thyself, I pray thee, from me. If thou wilt 
take the left hand, then I will go to the right ; or, if thou 
depart to the right hand, then I will go to the left." In 

30 other words, we say, if you cannot agree to enjoy this 
public domain in common, let us divide it. You take a 



ALEXANDER HAMILTON STEPHENS 159 

share, and let us take a share. And I again submit to an 
intelligent and candid world if the proposition is not fair 
and just? — and whether its rejection does not amount 
to a clear expression of your fixed determination to ex- 
clude us entirely from any participation in this public 5 
domain ? 

Now, sir, all that we ask, or all that I ask, is for Con- 
gress to open the entire country, and give an equal right 
to all the citizens of all the States to enter, settle, and 
colonize it with their property of every kind ; or to 10 
make an equitable division of it. Is this wrong? Is it 
endeavoring to control the action of Congress improperly 
to carry out sectional views and interests? And am I 
to subject myself to the intended reproach of being an 
ultraist for insisting upon nothing but what is just and 15 
right? If so, I am willing to bear whatever of reproach 
the epithet may impart. If a man be an ultraist for in- 
sisting upon nothing but his rights, with a willingness to 
compromise even these upon any fair and reasonable 
terms, without a total abandonment of them, then I am 20 
an ultraist. And I am mistaken in the character of that 
people amongst whom I was born and with whom I have 
been reared, if a large majority of them, when all their 
propositions for adjustment and compromise shall have 
been rejected, will not be ultraists too. Be not deceived 25 
and do not deceive others — this Union can never be 
maintained by force. With the confidence and affections 
of the people of all sections of the country, it is capable 
of being the strongest and best government on earth. 
But it can never be maintained upon any other principles 30 
than those upon which it was formed. All free govern- 



160 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

ments are the creatures of volition — a breath can make 
them and a breath can destroy them. This government 
is no exception to the rule. And when once its spirit 
shall have departed, no power on earth can ever again 
5 infuse in it the Promethean spark of life and vitality. 
You might just as well attempt to raise the dead. 

Mr. Chairman, when I look to the causes which lie at 
the bottom of these differences of opinion between the 
North and the South, and out of which this agitation 

10 springs ; when I look at their character, extent, and radical 
nature — entering, as they necessarily do, into the very 
organization of society with us, I must confess that un- 
pleasant apprehensions for the future permanent peace 
and quiet of the different States of this Union force them- 

15 selves upon my mind. I am not, however, disposed to 
anticipate evil by indulging those apprehensions unless 
compelled to do so. It may be that we have the seeds of 
dissolution in our system which no skill can eradicate, 
just as we carry with us in our bodies the seeds of death 

20 which will certainly do their work at the allotted time. 
But because we are all conscious that we must die, it 
does not follow that we should hasten the event by an 
act of suicide. We have the business, duties, and obliga- 
tions of life to discharge. So with this government. 

25 Because I may have serious apprehensions of the work- 
ings of causes known to exist, I do not conceive it there- 
fore to be in the line of duty to anticipate the natural 
effects of those causes by any rash or unjustifiable act. 
I am disposed rather to hope for the best, while I feel 

30 bound to be prepared for the worst. What is really to 
be the future fate and destiny of this Republic is a matter 



ALEXANDER HAMILTON STEPHENS 161 

of interesting speculation; but I am well satisfied that it 
cannot last long, even if the present differences be ad- 
justed, unless these violent and bitter sectional feelings of 
the North be kept out of the National Halls. This is a 
conclusion that all must come to, who know anything of 5 
the lessons of history. But our business to-day is with 
the present, and not the future ; and I would now invoke 
every member of this House who hears me, with the 
same frankness, earnestness, and singleness of purpose 
with which I have addressed them throughout these re- 10 
marks, to come up like men and patriots, and relieve the 
country from the dangerous embarrassments by which it 
is at this time surrounded. It is a duty we owe to our- 
selves, to the millions we represent, and to the whole 
civilized world. To do this, I tell you again, there must 15 
be concessions by the North as well as the South. Are 
you not prepared to make them? Are your feelings too 
narrow and restricted to embrace the whole country and 
to deal justly by all its parts? Have you formed a fixed, 
firm, and inflexible determination to carry your measures 20 
in this House by numerical strength, and then to enforce 
them by the bayonet? If so, you may be prepared to 
meet the consequences of whatever follows. The respon- 
sibility will rest upon your own heads. You may think 
that the suppression of an outbreak in the Southern States 25 
would be a holiday job for a few of your Northern regi- 
ments, but you may find to your cost, in the end, that 
seven millions of people fighting for their rights, their 
homes, and their hearthstones, cannot be "easily con- 
quered." I submit the matter to your deliberate con- 30 
sideration. 



162 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

I have told you, sincerely and honestly, that I am for 
peace and the Union upon any fair and reasonable terms 
— it is the most cherished sentiment of my heart. But 
if you deny these terms — if you continue "deaf to the 

5 voice ;; of that spirit of justice, right, and equality, which 
should always characterize the deliberations of statesmen, 
I know of no other alternative that will be left to the 
people of the South, but, sooner or later, "to acquiesce 
in the necessity" of "holding you, as the rest of mankind, 

[ o enemies in war — ■ in peace, friends." 



J. C. BRECKINRIDGE 
Eulogy on Henry Clay 

Mr. Speaker, I rise to perform the melancholy duty 
of announcing to this body the death of Henry Clay, 
late a senator in Congress from the Commonwealth of 
Kentucky. 

Mr. Clay expired at his lodgings in this city yesterday 5 
morning at seventeen minutes past eleven o'clock, in the 
seventy-sixth year of his age. His noble intellect was 
unclouded to the last. After protracted sufferings, he 
passed away without pain; and so gently did the spirit 
leave his frame that the moment of departure was not 10 
observed by the friends who watched at his bedside. 
His last hours were cheered by the presence of an affec- 
tionate son, and he died surrounded by friends who, during 
his long illness, had done all that affection could suggest 
to soothe his sufferings. 15 

Although this sad event has been expected for many 
weeks, the shock it produced, and the innumerable tributes 
of respect to his memory exhibited on every side, and in 
every form, prove the depth of the public sorrow and the 
greatness of the public loss. 20 

Imperishably associated as his name has been for fifty 
years with every great event affecting the fortunes of our 

163 



164 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

country, it is difficult to realize that he is indeed gone 
forever. It is difficult to feel that we shall see no more 
his noble form within these walls — that we shall hear no 
more his patriot tones, now rousing his countrymen to 
5 vindicate their rights against a foreign foe, now imploring 
them to preserve concord among themselves. We shall 
see him no more. The memory and the fruits of his 
services alone remain to us. Amidst the general gloom, 
the Capitol itself looks desolate, as if the genius of the 

10 place had departed. Already the intelligence has reached 
almost every quarter of the Republic, and a great people 
mourn with us, to-day, the death of their most illustrious 
citizen. Sympathizing, as we do, deeply, with his family 
and friends, yet private affliction is absorbed in the general 

15 sorrow. The spectacle of a whole community lamenting 
the loss of a great man is far more touching than any 
manifestation of private grief. In speaking of a loss 
which is national, I will not attempt to describe the uni- 
versal burst of grief with which Kentucky will receive 

20 these tidings. The attempt would be vain to depict the 
gloom that will cover her people, when they know that the 
pillar of fire is removed, which has guided their footsteps 
for the life of a generation. 

It is known to the country that, from the memorable 

25 session of 1849-1850, Mr. Clay's health gradually de- 
clined. Although several years of his senatorial term re- 
mained, he did not propose to continue in the public 
service longer than the present session. He came to 
Washington chiefly to defend, if it should become neces- 

3° sary, the measures of adjustment, to the adoption of 
which he so largely contributed; but the condition of his 



J. C. BRECKINRIDGE 165 

health did not allow him, at any time, to participate in 
the discussions of the Senate. During the winter, he was 
confined almost wholly to his room, with slight changes 
in his condition, but gradually losing the remnant of his 
strength. Through the long and dreary winter, he con- s 
versed much and cheerfully with his friends, and expressed 
a deep interest in public affairs. Although he did not 
expect a restoration to health, he cherished the hope that 
the mild season of spring would bring to him strength 
enough to return to Ashland, and die in the bosom of his 10 
family. But alas ! spring, that brings life to all nature, 
brought no life nor hope to him. After the month of 
March, his vital powers rapidly wasted, and for weeks he 
lay patiently awaiting the stroke of death. But the 
approach of the destroyer had no terrors for him. No 15 
clouds overhung his future. He met the end with com- 
posure, and his pathway to the grave was brightened by 
the immortal hopes which spring from the Christian faith. 
Not long before his death, having just returned from 
Kentucky, I bore to him a token of affection from his 20 
excellent wife. Never can I forget his appearance, his 
manner, or his words. After speaking of his family, his 
friends, and his country, he changed the conversation to 
his own future, and looking on me with his fine eye un- 
dimmed, and his voice full of its original compass and 25 
melody, he said: "I am not afraid to die, sir. I have 
hope, faith, and some confidence. I do not think any 
man can be entirely certain in regard to his future state, 
but I have an abiding trust in the merits and mediation 
of our Saviour." It will assuage the grief of his family 30 
to know that he looked hopefully beyond the tomb, and 



166 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

a Christian people will rejoice to hear that such a man in 
his last hours reposed with simplicity and confidence on 
the promises of the Gospel. 

It is the custom on occasions like this to speak of the 
s parentage and childhood of the deceased, and to follow 
him, step by step, through life. I will not attempt to 
relate even all the. great events of Mr. Clay's life, because 
they are familiar to the whole country, and it would be 
needless to enumerate a long list of public services which 

10 form a part of American history. 

Beginning life as a friendless boy, with few advantages 
save those conferred by nature, while yet a minor he left 
Virginia, the State of his birth, and commenced the prac- 
tice of law at Lexington, in Kentucky. At a bar remark- 

15 able for its numbers and talent, Mr. Clay soon rose to the 
first rank. At a very early age he was elected from the 
county of Fayette to the General Assembly of Kentucky, 
and' was the Speaker of that body. Coming into the 
Senate of the United States, for the first time, in 1806, 

20 he entered upon a parliamentary career, the most brilliant 
and successful in our annals. From that time, he re- 
mained habitually in the public eye. As a senator, as a 
member of this House, and its Speaker, as a representative 
of his country abroad, and as a high officer in the executive 

25 department of the government, he was intimately con- 
nected for fifty years with every great measure of Ameri- 
can policy. Of the mere party measures of this period, I 
do not propose to speak. Many of them have passed 
away, and are remembered only as the occasion for the 

30 great intellectual efforts which marked their discussion. 
Concerning others, opinions are still divided. They will 



J. C. BRECKINRIDGE 167 

go into history, with the reasons on either side rendered 
by the greatest intellects of the time. 

\A.s a leader in a deliberative body, Mr. Clay had no 
equal in America. In him, intellect, person, eloquence, 
and courage united to form a character fit to command. 5 
He fired with his own enthusiasm, and controlled by his 
amazing will, individuals and masses. No reverse could 
crush his spirit, nor defeat reduce him to despair. Equally 
erect and dauntless in prosperity and adversity; when 
successful, he moved to the accomplishment of his pur- 10 
poses with severe resolution; when defeated, he rallied 
his broken bands around him, and from his eagle eye shot 
along their ranks the contagion of his own courage. 
Destined for a leader, he everywhere asserted his destiny. 
In his long and eventful life he came in contact with men 15 
of all ranks and professions, but he never felt that he was 
in the presence of a man superior to himself. In the 
assemblies of the people, at the bar, in the Senate — 
everywhere within the circle of his personal presence he 
assumed and maintained a position of preeminence. 20 

But the supremacy of Mr. Clay as a party leader was 
not his only nor his highest title to renown. That title is 
to be found in the purely patriotic spirit which, on great 
occasions, always signalized his conduct. We have had 
no statesman who in periods of real and imminent public 25 
peril has exhibited a more genuine and enlarged patriotism 
than Henry Clay. Whenever a question presented itself 
actually threatening the existence of the Union, Mr. 
Clay, rising above the passions of the hour, always 
exerted his powers to solve it peacefully and honorably. 30 
Although more liable than most men, from his impetuous . 



168 SOUTHEBN ORATORS 

and ardent nature, to feel strongly the passions common 
to us all, it was his rare faculty to be able to subdue 
them in a great crisis, and to hold towards all sections of 
the Confederacy the language of concord and brotherhood. 
5 Sir, it will be a proud pleasure to every true American 
heart to remember the great occasions when Mr. Clay has 
displayed a sublime patriotism — when the ill-temper en- 
gendered by the times, and the miserable jealousies of the 
day, seemed to have been driven from his bosom, by the 

10 expulsive power of nobler feelings — when every throb 
of his heart was given to his country, every effort of his 
intellect dedicated to her service. Who does not remem- 
ber the three periods when the American system of gov- 
ernment was exposed to its severest trials ; and who does 

15 not know that when history shall relate the struggles 
which preceded and the dangers which were averted by 
the Missouri Compromise — the tariff compromise of 1832, 
and the adjustment of 1850, the same pages will record the 
genius, the eloquence, and the patriotism of Henry Clay ? 

20 Nor was it in Mr. Clay's nature to lag behind until 
measures of adjustment were matured, and then come 
forward to swell a majority. On the contrary, like a 
bold and real statesman, he was ever among the first to 
meet the peril, and hazard his fame upon the remedy. 

25 It is fresh in the memory of us all that, when lately the 
fury of sectional discord threatened to sever the Con- 
federacy, Mr. Clay, though withdrawn from public life, 
and oppressed by the burden of years, came back to the 
Senate, the theater of his glory, and devoted the remnant 

30 of his strength to the sacred duty of preserving the union 
of the States. 



J. C. BRECKINRIDGE 169 

With characteristic courage he took the lead in pro- 
posing a scheme of settlement. But while he was willing 
to assume the responsibility of proposing a plan, he did 
not, with petty ambition, insist upon its adoption to the 
exclusion of other modes ; but taking his own as a start- 5 
ing point for discussion and practical action, he nobly 
labored with his compatriots to change and improve it in 
such form as to make it an acceptable adjustment. 
Throughout the long and arduous struggle, the love of 
country expelled from his bosom the spirit of selfishness, 10 
and Mr. Clay proved for the third time that though he 
was ambitious, and loved glory, he had no ambition to 
mount to fame on the confusions of his country. And 
this conviction is lodged in the hearts of the people ; the 
party measures and the party passions of former times 15 
have not, for several years, interposed between Mr. Clay 
and the masses of his countrymen. After 1850 he seemed 
to feel that his mission was accomplished, and during the 
same period the regards and affections of the American 
people have been attracted to him in a remarkable degree. 20 
For many months the warmest feelings, the deepest 
anxieties of all parties, centered upon the dying states- 
man ; the glory of his great actions shed a mellow luster 
on his declining years, and to fill the measure of his 
fame, his countrymen, weaving for him the laurel wreath, 25 
with common hands, did bind it about his venerable 
brows, and send him, crowned, to history. 

The life of Mr. Clay, sir, is a striking example of the 
abiding fame which surely awaits the direct and candid 
statesman. The entire absence of equivocation or dis-30 
guise in all his acts was his master key to the popular 



170 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

heart; tor while the people will forgive the errors of a 
bold and open nature, he sins past forgiveness who de- 
liberately deceives them. Hence Mr. Clay, though often 
defeated in his measures of policy, always secured the 
5 respect of his opponents without losing the confidence of 
his friends. He never paltered in a double sense. The 
country was never in doubt as to his opinions or his pur- 
poses. In all the contests of his time, his position on 
great public questions was as clear as the sun in a cloud- 

10 less sky. Sir, standing by the grave of this great man, 
and considering these things, how contemptible does ap- 
pear the mere legerdemain of politics ! what a reproach 
is his life on that false policy which would trifle with a 
great and upright people ! If I were to write his epitaph, 

15 I would inscribe as the highest eulogy, on the stone which 
shall mark his resting place, "Here lies a man who was 
in the public service for fifty years, and never attempted 
to deceive his countrymen." 

While the youth of America should imitate his noble 

20 qualities, they may take courage from his career and note 
the high proof it affords that under our equal institutions 
the avenues to honor are open to all. Mr. Clay rose by 
the force of his own genius, unaided by power, patronage, 
or wealth. At an age when our young men are usually 

25 advanced to the higher schools of learning, provided only 
with the rudiments of an English education, he turned his 
steps to the West, and amidst the rude collisions of a 
border life, matured a character whose highest exhibitions 
were destined to mark eras in his country's history. Be- 

30 ginning on the frontiers of American civilization, the 
orphan boy, supported only by the consciousness of his 



J. C. BRECKINRIDGE 171 

own powers, and by the confidence of the people, sur- 
mounted all the barriers of adverse fortune, and won a 
glorious name in the annals of his country. Let the 
generous youth, fired with honorable ambition, remember 
that the American system of government offers on every 5 
hand bounties to merit. If, like Clay, orphanage, ob- 
scurity, poverty, shall oppress him; yet if, like Clay, he 
feels the Promethean spark within, let him remember 
that his country, like a generous mother, extends her 
arms to welcome and to cherish every one of her children 10 
whose genius and worth may promote her prosperity or 
increase her renown. 

Mr. Speaker, the signs of woe around us and the general 
voice announce that another great man has fallen. Our 
consolation is that he was not taken in the vigor of his 15 
manhood, but sunk into the grave at the close of a long 
and illustrious career. The great statesmen who have 
filled the largest space in the public eye, one by one are 
passing away. Of the three great leaders of the Senate, 
one alone remains, and he must follow soon. We shall 20 
witness no more their intellectual struggles in the Ameri- 
can forum; but the monuments of their genius will be 
cherished as the common property of the people, and their 
names will continue to confer dignity and renown upon 
their country. 25 

Not less illustrious than the greatest of these will be 
the name of Clay — a name pronounced with pride by 
Americans in every quarter of the globe; a name to be 
remembered while history shall record the struggles of 
modern Greece for freedom, or the spirit of liberty -burn 30 
in the South American bosom, a living and immortal 



172 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

name — a name that would descend to posterity without 
the aid of letters, borne by tradition from generation to 
generation. Every memorial of such a man will possess 
a meaning and a value to his countrymen. His tomb 
5 will be a hallowed spot. Great memories will cluster 
there, and his countrymen, as they visit it, may well- 
exclaim — 

"Such graves as his are pilgrim shrines, 
Shrines to no creed or code confined; 
i The Delphian vales, the Palestines, 

The Meccas of the mind." 



JOHN BELL 
The Nebraska Bill 

Having thus gone over all the grounds of objection 
suggested against the validity of the Missouri Com- 
promise, I trust it will be seen that I am not disposed to 
controvert them either as to fact or doctrine, with such 
exceptions only as upon more deliberate consideration, 5 
by those who asserted them, will be allowed to be well 
taken. 

But, sir, admitting them, with the exceptions I have 
stated, to be incontrovertibly true, still the main question 
remains to be considered and decided: Do these facts 10 
and doctrines demonstrate the expediency of disturbing 
the Missouri Compromise under existing circumstances? 
and in coming to an affirmative conclusion upon this 
question I hesitate, I pause. 

I have listened with attention to all the luminous ex- 15 
positions of theories of constitutional construction, and 
of popular sovereignty; to the ingenious application 
of doctrinal points to questions of compacts and com- 
promises by the friends of this measure. The question 
has been fruitful of themes for dialectic display ; for the 20 
exhibition of great powers of analysis and logical acumen ; 
but the whole argument has been singularly defective 
and unsatisfactory upon the main question, What practical 
advantage or benefit to the country generally, or to the 
173 



174 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

South in particular, will the repeal of the Missouri Com- 
promise secure ? 

It is asserted with great confidence that the applica- 
tion of the principle of nonintervention to these Terri- 
5 tories, and the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, will have 
the effect to transfer to the local legislatures, the Terri- 
tories and States, and to relieve Congress for the future 
from the most dangerous and distracting subject of con- 
troversy which ever has, or ever can, disturb its delibera- 

iotion; that the source of those sectional conflicts and agi- 
tations upon the subject of slavery, which have more 
than once threatened the peace of the country, will be 
removed; that justice will be done to the South; that 
the Constitution will be restored and vindicated; and a 

15 new guarantee be provided for the stability of the Union. 
I need not say that if one half of the many beneficent 
results predicated of this measure can be shown to follow 
as a probable consequence of its adoption, I would no 
longer hesitate to give it my support ; but, unfortunately, 

20 the argument has proceeded no further than the affirma- 
tion, without showing how these results must or will 
follow. Some gentlemen, delighted at the prospect of 
seeing a favorite theory of the right of the inhabitants 
of a Territory to govern themselves recognized by a vote 

25 of Congress — others in ecstasies with the prospect of a 
similar recognition of some favorite notion or doctrine of 
constitutional interpretation, after expending the whole 
force of their great ability in elucidating their respective 
creeds, forthwith jump to the conclusion that the happiest 

30 results will necessarily and inevitably follow the adoption 
of this measure. 



JOHN BELL 175 

Upon what rational calculation do gentlemen assume 
that they can establish, upon a firm foundation, any one 
of the favorite principles or doctrines incorporated in 
this bill, and especially when they consider, as they ought, 
the inherent element of disturbance which exists in the 5 
nature of the subject ? How establish beyond future con- 
troversy the principle of nonintervention by a vote of 
this Congress which the next, or any subsequent Con- 
gress, may annul? How restore a violated Constitution, 
settle a question of constitutional power, or a rule of con- 10 
stitutional construction, when so many of the interests 
and passions connected with these questions are neces- 
sarily political, and liable to change and vibrate with the 
changing interests and composition of parties? Con- 
gress, by its votes, has often reversed the decisions of 15 
the judicial department of the government on questions 
of constitutional power and construction, and still oftener 
its own decisions. In the very nature of things, no such 
stability as is argued can be given to any principle which 
this Congress may sanction by its vote on this bill. 20 

If this be so, how can this measure furnish any new 
guarantee for the preservation of the Union? Or how 
transfer to the Territories and take away from Congress 
those distracting and sectional questions which so often 
intrude themselves here? And, above all, how will the 25 
passage of this bill remove the source of those slavery 
agitations at the North, which have heretofore, upon two 
memorable occasions, filled the country with alarm for 
the safety of the Union ? Is there no danger that, instead 
of staunching, you will open afresh "this bleeding wound 30 
of the country " ? 



176 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

Sir, I believe there is a better feeling prevailing at the 

North towards the South than formerly; but would it 

not be wise on the part of the South to do nothing to 

reverse the current of that better feeling, unless urged by 

5 some great necessity in vindication of its rights ? 

But it is said that these antislavery feelings at the 
North are nothing more than the prejudices of education 
and a false philanthropy. Admit them to be nothing 
more than prejudices; are they, therefore, to be disre- 

10 garded by statesmen, who have the control of the affairs 
of a great country in their hands ? An eminent British 
statesman, I do not now remember who, once said of a 
cotemporary, that but for one defect, he would be the 
greatest statesman of the times; that was, that he had 

15 no regard for public prejudices of any kind; and what- 
ever measure appeared to him to be right and proper 
in itself he would insist upon, though it might excite 
the opposition and inflame the passions of the whole 
country. 

20 Me. Pettit. He was right, and he ought to have 
done so. 

Mr. Bell. I cannot agree with the Senator; but 
I say to him frankly that occasions may arise when I 
would be as little disposed to yield to prejudices as any 

25 man in or out of this Chamber, especially when these 
prejudices are sectional, and when any great wrong or 
injustice shall be done by one section of the Union to 
another. In such a case, should time and chance offer 
an opportunity of redress, then I would take the risk of 

3° deepening and defying those prejudices. I know it may 
be said that this is precisely such a case as I have here 



JOHN BELL 111 

presented. A great wrong, it is alleged, has been done to 
the South by the Missouri Compromise, and chance has 
presented the opportunity for redress; and this brings 
up fairly the inquiry, whether the passage of this bill is 
of such importance to the interests of the South that 5 
every Southern senator should support it, whatever scruples 
he may have in relation to some of its provisions ? What 
has the South to gain by the adoption of this measure? 
Will the passage of this bill redress any wrong or injustice 
heretofore done by the North to the South ? I have 10 
already admitted that injustice was done to the South 
by the Missouri Compromise ; but, after all, what was the 
extent of that injustice? I take it for granted that there 
is not a man who has ever considered those laws which 
in this country control the geographical extension or 15 
diffusion of slavery, who will pretend that if the Missouri 
Compromise Act had never been passed, slavery would 
have gone north of the northern boundary of Missouri. 
Then the whole extent of the wrong done the South by 
that measure was to prohibit slavery between that bound- 20 
ary and the line of 36° 30'; and not even to that extent, 
unless it shall turn out that this intermediate Territory 
is adapted to slave labor. In this intermediate Territory 
all will agree that such is the character of the country 
generally — so large a portion of it consisting of sterile 25 
desert — that but one slave State could, under any cir- 
cumstances, be formed within its limits. Now, this being 
the extent of the wrong done the South by the Missouri 
Compromise, will this bill, if it shall pass, redress it? 
Will slavery be established in the Kansas Territory pro- 30 
posed to be organized under its provisions? Does any 

N 



178 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

one, who has fully considered the subject, believe that this 
Territory will become a slave State? 

But it is earnestly insisted that the principle of non- 
intervention, proposed to be established by this bill, 
5 will be of the greatest value and importance to the South, 
whether slavery shall be authorized in these Territories 
or not. It will secure the just rights of the South in all 
time to come. I have already shown that you can estab- 
lish permanently no principle by this bill. But I will 

10 assume that the vote which may be given on the passage 
of this bill, giving the sanction of Congress to the prin- 
ciple of nonintervention, shall stand unrepealed, and 
become the established doctrine of the country; still 
the question recurs, of what practical value will it be to 

15 the South? Does any Southern man suppose that slavery 
will ever go into any of the Territories which, at any 
future time, may be carved out of the large extent of 
country included within the bounds of the Nebraska 
Territory, as proposed to be organized by this bill? I 

20 take it for granted that no such idea is entertained by any 
one. Where is the other and remaining Territory of the 
United States to which this principle of nonintervention 
can be made available, or of any value to the South ? The 
territory west of Arkansas will be more irrevocably dedi- 

25 cated to the exclusive possession of the Indians, and more 
effectually barred against the formation of a new slave 
State, under the operation of this bill, than heretofore ; for 
it will be the last and only retreat of the emigrant and 
other tribes now in the territory west of Missouri. Utah 

30 and New Mexico are already organized Territories, accord- 
ing to the principle of nonintervention. The right to form 



JOHN BELL 179 

new slave States out of the ample territory of Texas is 
guaranteed by a compact far safer and stronger than any 
which Congress can furnish by giving its sanction to this 
measure. 

There is a little spot of hopelessly barren country, of s 
some few thousand square miles in extent, ceded to the 
United States by Texas, under a provision of the com- 
promise acts of 1850, to which this principle of non- 
intervention, if established, may be applied, if it can be 
safely done without violating the compact under which 10 
Texas came into the Union, and that is all. And is it for 
this poor boon — if my friends will allow the expression 
— this phantom ! that we are called upon to sanction a 
measure which will impart new life and vigor — arm with 
new heads and fangs, the now half-conquered Hydra 15 
of the North ? Is it for this ! that we are called upon to 
give promise of a better day to those political agitators 
at the North, who have staked their whole fortunes and 
hopes of power upon the successful formation of a great 
Northern and sectional party — the last and most fatal 20 
evil that can befall the country; for its consummation 
will be the destruction of the Constitution and the ex- 
tinction of public liberty ? Is it for this ! that we are called 
upon to supply new weapons of warfare to all the enemies 
of the South ; and to invite a combination of Whig Free- 25 
Soilers, Soft Shell and Independent Democrats, Liberty 
Men, Abolitionists, Socialists, and Atheists, founded 
upon no common principle but hostility to the South — 
no common object but the acquisition of power and the 
spoils ? 3° 

But, Mr. President, it is said that we may make 



180 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

acquisitions of territory hereafter — perhaps from Mexico 

— and that then the South will have the benefit of the 
principle of nonintervention recognized in this bill. I 
fear, sir, that this, too, will prove a phantom ; but if ever 

5 any such acquisition of new territory shall be made — 
and I hope the date of such acquisitions will be far in the 
future — I trust it will be under the influence of some 
great national and patriotic impulse — prompted by con- 
siderations of a common interest, and a policy which 
10 knows no North, no South ; and these will furnish far 
stronger guarantees of the rights of the South in any 
such acquisitions, than any vote of Congress in favor of 
this measure. But if it be deemed of any — the slightest 

— importance to any future interest of the South that 
15 the sentiment of this Congress shall be expressed in favor 

of the principle of nonintervention, why not bring for- 
ward a joint resolution declaratory of the principle? 

I have already said that there is no difference between 
myself and my Southern friends in relation to this principle. 

20 I will vote for such a resolution most cheerfully. I have 
said already, and I repeat, that if I could take the view 
of. the importance of this measure to the country which 
my Southern friends • do — cutting off the source of all 
future controversy between the North and the South — 

25 putting an end to agitation in both sections upon the 
subject of slavery — I would feel justified in waiving all 
my objections to this bill, and in uniting heartily with 
them in its support. We differ only as to the results of 
the measure. 

3° Sir, a reason has been urged why every Southern sena- 
tor should support this bill which I have not yet noticed. 



JOHN BELL 181 

A great, truly national, and patriotic party, it is sug- 
gested, is now in the ascendency at the North, which 
makes a voluntary tender of the principle of noninter- 
vention to the acceptance of the South, to be a rule by 
which all questions relating to slavery in the Territories 5 
may hereafter be settled; and it is insisted that a sense 
of gratitude, if nothing else, should rally the whole South 
in its support. I acknowledge the obligation for their 
generous intentions; but unless some more certain and 
substantial benefit can be derived from the provisions of 10 
this bill than I can detect, I think our gratitude to those 
gentlemen of the North who have stood so generously 
and boldly by the South in sustaining the compromise 
acts of 1850, as well as those who are now prepared to 
sustain the provisions of this bill, will be best shown by 15 
accepting nothing, insisting upon nothing, that can im- 
peril their present ascendency. As a Southern man, I 
would desire to husband all their strength. The time 
may come, the occasion may not be far distant, when 
their unbroken energies may be required in sustaining 20 
measures and interests of the greatest practical advantage 
to the whole country. 

Mr. President, unless all the signs of the times are 
deceptive, we are, at this moment, on the eve of great 
events. A war between the great powers of Europe seems 25 
to be inevitable; and a general convulsion of the Old 
World seems not improbable. In either event, none but 
the Omniscient Ruler of all things can know how we are 
to escape the general calamity ; or how soon we may be 
forced, in vindication of our national rights, to become 30 
parties to the general strife. But if the existing crisis in 



182 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

the affairs of Europe should pass without a war, it re- 
quires no great sagacity to perceive that we have no 
assurance that Great Britain and France, whose policy in 
setting bounds to the further growth and expansion of 
5 this great country has already been indicated, will not be 
further developed by proceedings on their part which can 
no longer be patiently submitted to. 

It is for this reason, among others, that I so deeply 
regret the recurrence of any cause for the renewal of those 

10 fierce sectional controversies which tend so much to dis- 
tract the national councils and impair the national energies. 
The North and the South united, and cordial in the vin- 
dication of a national Quarrel, this country has nothing 
to fear from any conflict with foreign powers, come when 

15 it may. 



SAMUEL HOUSTON 

The Kansas-Nebraska Bill 

Mr. President, I cannot believe that the agitation 
created by this measure ° will be confined to the Senate 
Chamber. I cannot believe, from what we have wit- 
nessed here to-night, that this will be the exclusive arena 
for the exercise of human passions, and the expression of 5 
public opinions. If the Republic be not shaken, I will 
thank Heaven for its kindness in maintaining its stability. 
To what extent is it proposed to establish the principle of 
nonintervention? Are you extending it to a domain in- 
habited by citizens, or to a barren prairie, a wilderness, 10 
or even to forty thousand wild Indians? Is this the 
diffusive excellence of nonintervention? I, sir, am for 
nonintervention upon the principles which have hereto- 
fore been recognized by this government. Hitherto Terri- 
tories have been organized — within my recollection 15 
Alabama, Missouri, Florida, Arkansas, Mississippi, Wis- 
consin, and Iowa have been organized — and the principle 
now proposed was not deemed essential to their well- 
being; and is there any infirmity in their constitutions 
or their growth ? Sir, has any malign influence attached 20 
to them from their simple, economical organization? It 
may be that the word "economy" is deemed obsolete in 
the present condition of our treasury. Were it otherwise, 

183 



184 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

I am simple enough to confess that the organization of 
two Territories — when there are not people to constitute 
an ordinary county in one of the populous States of this 
Union, and when those who do inhabit the Territories are 
5 United States soldiers, who are not entitled to vote at 
elections in the States or Territories — is not a procedure 
that can be characterized as economical. If the principle 
of nonintervention be correct, it is correct where the 
Territories have been governed by laws of Congress until 

iothey are prepared to make application for admission as 
States. Then they have a right to elect their delegates 
to convention, for the purpose of framing State constitu- 
tions, which, if accepted by Congress, invest them with 
all the sovereign rights of States ; and then, for the first 

15 time, they have the complete power of self-government. 
A Territory under the tutelage of Congress can form no 
organic laws, either admitting or excluding slavery. A 
people without organic laws might alternately enact and 
repeal all laws and reenact them without limitation, as 

20 they would have no local constitution. Congress has a 
supervision over the action of all Territories until they 
become sovereign States. In the formation of State 
governments, I can say that they have the exclusive 
right to determine whether they will come into the 

25 Union with or without slavery. There, sir, is the applica- 
tion of the principle of nonintervention, and one that I 
have always maintained. 

But gentlemen speak of sovereignty — they say that 
the people are sovereign, and are supreme. Sir, I bow 

3° with all deference to that sovereignty; but I do not 
apply the principle to the territories in their unorganized 



SAMUEL HOUSTON 185 

and chrysalis condition. Sovereignty implies the power 
of organization, and a self-acting, self-moving, and self- 
sustaining principle; but the Territories have it not. 
They only acquire it when they become constituent parts 
of this Confederacy. 5 

But we are told that the South has stood by the Com- 
promise. I am glad of it. Yet gentlemen have protested 
against the recognition of North and South. Why, sir, 
they are recognized every day. The distinction has been 
recognized by the statesmen of every day, and every sec- 10 
tion of the country. Am I to be told that the question 
has not assumed that character, and that it will not 
operate to carry sectional influence with it to a certain 
extent ? It is impossible that you can divest it of a sec- 
tional character to some extent. Why, we are told, in 15 
the very breath that declares there is no such principle 
recognized, that the North has violated the Missouri Com- 
promise, and the South has maintained it; and yet do 
you tell me that there is no North and no South ? Let us 
look at the action of the North and South. I am not 20 
going back to make a technical, or legal, or constitutional 
argument upon the facts and circumstances of the Mis- 
souri Compromise — its creation, its progress, its recog- 
nition, and final decision. I am not going to characterize 
it as a compact as distinguished from a compromise, be- 25 
cause I can see no reasonable application of the one that 
does not belong to the other. 

I again ask, what benefit is to result to the South from 
this measure, if adopted? I have shown, I hope, that if 
you repeal this Missouri Compromise, Texas has no 30 
guarantee left for the multiplication of her States, if she 



186 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

chooses to make them. What are its advantages? Will 
it secure these Territories to the South? No, sir, not at 
all. But, the gentlemen tell us, it is the principle that we 
want. I can perceive but one principle involved in the 
5 measure, and that principle lies at the root of agitation ; 
and from that all the tumult and excitements of the 
country must arise. That is the only principle I can 
perceive. We are told by Southern, as well as Northern 
gentlemen, those who are for it, and those who are against 

10 it, that slavery will never be extended to that Territory, 
that it will never go there ; but it is the principle of non- 
intervention that it is desired to establish. Sir, we have 
done well under the intervention of the Missouri Com- 
promise, if the gentlemen so call it, in other Territories; 

15 and, I adjure you, when there is so much involved, not to 
press this matter too far. What is to be the consequence ? 
If it is not in embryo, my suggestion will not make it so. 
It has been suggested elsewhere, and I may repeat it 
here, what is to be the effect of this measure if adopted, 

20 and you repeal the Missouri Compromise ? The South is 
to gain nothing by it ; for honorable gentlemen from the 
South, and especially the junior senator from Virginia 
[Mr. Hunter], characterize it as a miserable, trifling little 
measure. Then, sir, is the South to be propitiated or 

25 benefited by the conferring upon her of a miserable, 
trifling little measure ? Will that compensate the South 
for her uneasiness? Will it allay the agitation of the 
North ? Will it preserve the union of these States ? Will 
it sustain the Democratic or the Whig party in their 

30 organizations ? No, sir, they all go to the wall. What is 
to be the effect on this government? It is to be most 



SAMUEL HOUSTON 187 

ruinous and fatal to the future harmony and well-being of 
the country. I think that the measure itself would be 
useless. If you establish intervention, you make nothing 
by that. But what will be the consequence in the minds 
of the people? They have a veneration for that com- 5 
promise. They have a respect and reverence for it, from 
its antiquity and the associations connected with it, and 
repeated references to it that seem to suggest that it 
marked the boundaries of free and slave territory. They 
have no respect for it as a compact — I do not care what 10 
you call it — but as a line, defining certain rights and 
privileges to the different sections of the Union. The 
abstractions which you indulge in here can never satisfy 
the people that there is not something in it. Abrogate it 
or disannul it, and you exasperate the public mind. It 15 
is not necessary that reason should accompany excitement. 
Feeling is enough to agitate without much reason, and 
that will be the great prompter on this occasion. My 
word for it, we shall realize scenes of agitation which are 
rumbling in the distance now. 20 

But, sir, the people are not going into abstractions to 
understand this subject. Nor will there be a lawyer at 
every point, every crossroad, every public meeting, every 
muster, or every courthouse, to give elaborate disserta- 
tions upon the unconstitutionality of the Missouri Com- 25 
promise. I care nothing about its constitutionality or 
unconstitutionality. Not one straw do I care about it on 
account of the circumstances out of which it grew, and 
the benefits flowing from it. Mr. Jefferson said he could 
not find constitutional authority for the acquisition of 30 
Louisiana. If that was the case, even if the Compromise, 



188 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

based upon an unconstitutional act, to reconcile the dif- 
ferent sections of the country was without authority of the 
Constitution, it became a legitimate subject of legislation. 
I say legitimate, because it was an acquisition of territory 

5 which must be governed in some manner suited to the 
exigencies of the occasion. Hence the resort to the 
principle of compromise, and to legislation. Was the 
acquisition of Florida constitutional? I think not. Yet 
we retain it as one of our States. Was the acquisition^ 

10 Texas constitutional ? No, sir, it was not. It was a 
mere act of legislation on the part of this government — a 
compromise — precisely such as the compromise which 
this bill proposes to repeal. But Texas is in, and you 
cannot thrust us out ; and that is the whole of it. But it 

15 is not constitutional. If it is not, and validity attaches 
only to compacts, in contradistinction to compromises, then 
this is a compact predicated upon the compromise of 
Missouri. 

I do not know whether it is constitutional, technically. 

20 It is sufficient for me to know that it has stood for more 
than thirty years, and received the approbation of our 
wisest and ablest statesmen, from the day of its adoption 
down to the present, and was never questioned until after 
the commencement of the present session of Congress. It 

25 is strange that an unconstitutional law should have re- 
mained so long in force amid all the agitation, and excite- 
ment, and bitterness between the North and the South; 
and that this is the first proposition ever made to repeal 
it. Have we to yield to it without any necessity, and 

30 without any excuse for it, when we see that discord will 
run riot in our land ? 



SAMUEL HOUSTON 189 

Mr. President, I shall say but little more. My address 
may have been desultory. It embraces many subjects 
which it would be very hard to keep in entire order. We 
have, in the first place, the extensive territory; then we 
have the considerations due to the Indians ; and then we 5 
have the proposed repeal of the Missouri Compromise, 
which seems to require the most explanation, and to be 
the main point in the controversy. The great principle 
involved in that repeal is nonintervention, which, we are 
told, is to be of no practical benefit, if the Compromise is 10 
repealed. It can have no effect but to keep up agitation. 
Sir, the friends who have survived the distinguished men 
who took prominent parts in the drama of the Compromise 
of 1850 ought to feel gratified that those men are not 
capable of participating in the events of to-day, but that 15 
they were permitted, after they had accomplished their 
labors, and seen their country in peace, to leave the 
world, as Simeon did, with the exclamation, "Lord, now 
lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes 
have seen thy salvation." They departed in peace, and 20 
they left their country in peace. They felt, as they were 
about to be gathered to the tombs of their fathers, that 
the country they had loved so well, and which had honored 
them — that country upon whose fame and name their 
doings had • shed a bright luster which shines abroad 25 
throughout all Christendom — was reposing in peace and 
happiness. What would their emotions be if they could 
now be present and see an effort made, if not so designed, 
to undo all their work, and to tear asunder the cords that 
they had bound around the hearts of their countrymen ? 30 
They have departed. The nation felt the wound; and 



190 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

we see the memorials of woe still in this Chamber. The 
proud symbol [the eagle] above your head remains en- 
shrouded in black, as if it deplored the misfortune which 
had fallen upon us, or as a fearful omen of future calami- 
5 ties which await our nation, in the event this bill should 
become a law. Above it I behold the majestic figure of 
Washington, whose presence must ever inspire patriotic 
emotions, and command the admiration and love of every 
American heart. By these associations I adjure you to 

10 regard the contract once made to harmonize and preserve 
this Union. Maintain the Missouri Compromise ! Stir not 
up agitation ! Give us peace ! 

This much I was bound to declare — in behalf of my 
country, as I believe, and I know in behalf of my constit- 

15 uents. In the discharge of my duty I have acted fear- 
lessly. The events of the future are left in the hands of 
a wise Providence ; and, in my opinion, upon the decision 
which we make upon this question, must depend union or 
disunion. 



H. W. HILLIARD 
Daniel Webster — His Genius and Character 

Air. President, Ladies and Gentlemen, — We should 
read the history of the rise and fall of an empire to little 
purpose if we failed to discover the causes which pro- 
duced its prosperity or sapped its strength, and it would be 
an idle task to recount the events of a great life if we s 
could not comprehend the element which constituted its 
greatness. 

When a great man passes away from the world, we 
review his career, we linger over the grand passages of 
his life — his adversities and his triumphs; but, while 10 
we desire to know what he has performed, we are far 
more deeply interested in discerning what he has thought 
and what he has felt. The external life, whatever may 
be its splendor, interests us less than the great soul itself. 
We study great historic periods not merely that we may 15 
trace the changing fortunes of a dynasty or the eventful 
progress of a nation, but we seek to read in the facts 
spread out before us the philosophy which they teach. 

We follow the hero from the battlefield and the states- 
man from the senate chamber that we may study the 20 
man ; we seek to analyze him, and to read the soul which 
makes him what he really is — which imparts to his life 
the heroism and the grandeur which the world has dis- 
191 



192 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

covered and applauded. Nothing interests us so much as 
character. 

It is our purpose this evening to. exhibit, so far as we 
can in so brief a period, the character of a great states- 
5 man, who, as Clarendon says of the Duke of Buckingham, 
lately rode in the troubled and boisterous waters of public 
affairs as admiral, and to present the qualities which, in 
their grand assemblage, gave him his preeminence among 
the men of our times. 

10 The traveler who visits the Alps feels his conception of 
the sublime heightened as he beholds that great mountain 
range lifting its ice-clad summits to the cloud region. 
The soul, exalted and ennobled, enjoys a glorious com- 
munion with nature. 

15 But when the glance is turned upon Mont Blanc, 
standing in solitary grandeur, its head crowned with ever- 
lasting glaciers, and towering above all surrounding 
objects, we recognize it at once as a monarch, peerless 
amid the colossal forms which stand about it, and un- 

20 approachable in its eternal majesty. 

So, in exploring the civil history of our country, when 
the eye glances along the line of illustrious men who have 
lived and died in the service of the Republic, it rests upon 
the form of Daniel Webster as its grand proportions 

25 stand out before us against the sky of the past. 

It is not our purpose to trace the career of Mr. Webster, 
but our wish is to present a view of the man as he so 
lately stood among us ; to analyze his character ; to study 
the great element which entered into it ; and to discover 

30 where the secret of his strength was hid. 

A really great man is the grandest object which this 



H. W. HILLIARD 193 

world ever exhibits. The heavens in their magnificence 
— the ocean in its sublime immensity — mountains 
standing firm upon their granite foundations, all are less 
imposing than a living man in the possession of his highest 
faculties. 5 

It is not always that the majesty of the intellect is 
symbolized in the external man, but in the case of Webster 
it was so. His appearance was nothing less than grand. 
In the midst of his peers in the Senate, he stood like a 
tower, in shape and gesture proudly eminent ; or he sat, 10 
amid its august deliberations, as if upon his broad shoulders 
alone he could bear the weight of the government. His 
head rose with an ample swell, which reminded one of 
that dome which Michael Angelo hung° in the heavens. 
His eyes were large, dark, and with that fathomless depth 15 
which gives so fine an expression to the face. These, 
with his dark complexion and hair, presented at all times 
a spectacle which would fix the attention if seen in any 
assemblage of men; but it was when he was roused by 
some great theme, or fired by some important debate, 20 
that he rose into an aspect of Olympian power and gran- 
deur. Then we could comprehend Milton's description 
of the style of Demosthenes : — 

"He shook the Arsenal, 
And fulmined over Greece." 25 

A thundercloud seemed at times to hang upon his brow, 
but as he ^advanced in his argument, something like a 
smile, resembling a ray of sunlight, would pass over his 
features. 

No grander spectacle could be witnessed than that 3° 



194 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

which he presented when his mighty intellect was in full 
play, and the great passion of his nature glowed in 
his countenance. It was like looking upon a great 
mountain, in whose depths the molten ore, under the 
5 intense heat of internal fires, begins to flow, and at length 
pours out in a broad stream of living flame. 

There can be no true eloquence which is not in some way 
allied to poetry, nor can there be true greatness of any 
kind which is the work of the head ; the heart must origi- 

10 nate it, or it is no greatness at all. Practical men must 
be, if they would achieve great exploits in this latter half 
of the nineteenth century; but the curse of our times is 
utilitarian philosophy, falsely so called, which would 
ignore the heart within the living man, make him forget 

15 the green fields of his boyhood, the sweet recollections 
of home, the whole face of nature, and everything but 
Mammon, — 

"The least erected spirit that fell from heaven n ; 

for even in heaven his looks and thoughts 

20 "Were always downward bent, admiring more 

The riches of heaven's pavement, trodden gold, 
Than aught divine or holy else enjoyed 
In vision beatific." 

Mr. Webster loved nature passionately. The brooks, 
25 the hills, the valleys, the snow-clad mountains, the sun 
gilding the east with purple light, or kindling a blaze of 
splendor over all the western sky — all this he looked 
upon with a glance which took in the beauty and the glory 
of the scene. Nothing was lost upon him; no sound 
30 which greeted the ear with music in its tones, no touch 



H. W. HILLTARD 195 

of nature upon the heavens or the earth which the eye 
could rest upon, was unheeded by him. He saw every- 
thing and he heard everything as a poet sees and hears 
the aspects and voices of nature. All appealed to the 
great deep of his moral nature, as the stars of heaven are 5 
mirrored in the bosom of the ocean. 

His was not a soul to sink overpowered by any scene 
of nature, however magnificent or sublime; it rose and 
kindled with the glories which surrounded it; and while 
he felt awed beneath the display of God's power and 10 
glory in the outspread heavens, he at the same time felt 
his soul swell with adoring gratitude to Him because He 
did condescend to visit man. 

He pressed into his service all the elements about him, 
and he treasured up beautiful and great thoughts, that 15 
he might use them when the occasion came. 

Standing in Quebec, and witnessing a morning parade 
of British troops, he caught an idea of the widespread 
power of England, which he uttered years after in one of 
his great speeches. 20 

He was speaking of the principle of the Revolution, 
and he says of our fathers, "On this question of principle, 
while actual suffering was yet afar off, they raised their 
flag against a power, to which, for purposes of foreign 
conquest and subjugation, Rome, in the height of her 25 
glory, is not to be compared ; a power which has dotted 
over the surface of the whole globe with her possessions 
and military posts ; whose morning drumbeat, following 
the sun, and keeping company with the hours, circles 
the earth daily with one continuous and unbroken strain 30 
of the martial airs of England." 



196 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

Nothing in the -language which we speak is finer than 
the poetical thought which he introduces into his Bunker 
Hill speech when the great monument was inaugu- 
rated : — 
5 "Let it rise — let it rise till it meets the sun in his com- 
ing. Let the earliest light of the morning gild it, and 
parting day linger and play on its summit." 

Another great quality in Mr. Webster's oratory was his 
acquaintance with classical literature, and this, we think, 

10 ought to be noticed next to that poetical element in his 
nature to which we have just referred. 

He stands without rival among American statesmen in 
that style of oratory, excepting only John Randolph, 
whose discursive and eccentric orations can hardly be 

15 classed with regular parliamentary speeches, and Mr. 
Pinkney, of Maryland, whose fame rests chiefly upon his 
arguments before the Supreme Court of the United States, 
but whose beautiful speech in the case of the Nereid 
entitles him to a high rank in that school. In this respect 

20 the British statesmen far excel us. We read their speeches 
with delight; they are in themselves classics. 

Two most felicitous quotations from the Iliad, which 
Mr. Webster made on two occasions of great interest to 
the country, occur to me. 

25 He closes his speech, made on the 7th of March, 1850,° 
with a description of the completeness given to our ex- 
tended territorial possessions by the acquisition of Cali- 
fornia. The two great oceans of the world then washed 
our borders. "We realize," he said, "on a mighty scale, 

30 the beautiful description of that ornamental border' of 
the buckler of Achilles : — 



H. W. H1LLIARD 197 

"'Now, the broad shield complete, the artist crowned 
With his last hand, and poured the ocean round; 
In living silver seem'd the waves to roll, 
And beat the buckler's verge, and bound the whole.'" 

The other classical quotation to which we allude was 5 
made in a speech delivered in the Senate, when Mr. 
Webster, after the death of General Taylor, resumed the 
discussion of the Compromise measures, which had been 
interrupted by that event. He paid a beautiful tribute 
to the hero-President before entering upon his argument, 10 
and closed it with the lines from Homer: — 

"Such honors Ilium to her hero paid, 
And peaceful slept the mighty Hector's shade." 

There was a comprehensiveness in Mr. Webster's 
range of thoughts which never failed to appear in all that 15 
he wrote or spoke ; he never took a small view of a sub- 
ject. This gave to his style a massiveness which dis- 
tinguished it from that of any of his contemporaries. 
Indeed, it was Miltonic : what the author of " Paradise 
Lost " was among poets, Mr. Webster was among the 20 
writers and the orators of our time. 

His logical power was great; and he could furnish an 
argument ponderous as a cable which would hold a ship 
of war steady to its mooring in a tempest, while his poetical 
nature, his refined taste, and his acquaintance with general 25 
literature imparted an ornate beauty to his style, and a 
magnificence, rising sometimes into grandeur, which sur- 
passed the noblest efforts of Cicero in ancient, or of Burke 
in modern, times. 

There was a breadth of view in his examination of a 30 



198 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

question which reminded one who listened to him of the 
far-sweeping horizon which stretches around when we 
stand upon a mountain peak. 

All these elements, however, could not have given him 
5 that ascendency in the Senate, which he held as an orator, 
if he had not possessed yet another quality — Patriotism. 
He loved his country with a fervor that has never been 
surpassed. Impressive as he always was, — great as he 
often was at the bar, in the senate chamber, and before 

10 the people, — he rose to sublimity when he spoke of the 
power and glory of the Republic, or depicted its future 
grandeur. An indescribable majesty seemed to invest 
his person on such occasions, and he stood like an ancient 
demigod swaying the destinies of a nation. He loved 

15 New England; he loved his paternal home in the New 
Hampshire hills, half hid amid the snowdrifts of winter; 
he loved Massachusetts, which always cheered and sus- 
tained him ; but his love was not confined to New Eng- 
land; it was limited only to the remotest verge of the 

20 domain over which the eagles of his country flew. He 
was not a Massachusetts man, nor a New England man, 
nor a Northern man ; his great soul swept beyond these 
narrow limits ; and while New Hampshire might claim him 
because she gave him birth, and Massachusetts might 

25 claim him as her great senator, and the North might claim 
him as the noblest and proudest advocate of her policy, 
shedding the splendor of his imperial intellect over all 
her institutions, no section could appropriate him, for he 
was himself nothing less than an American. 

30 It was this that imparted the highest glory to his great 
efforts. In ordinary times he was a senator from the 



H. W. HILLIARD 199 

State of Massachusetts, ready to vindicate her policy 
and defend her interests, with enlarged national views, 
it is true, all the while; but when a great crisis came, 
which involved the stability of the government, or 
threatened the glory of the Republic, his soul expanded 5 
under the intense fires of patriotism, and his eye, like that 
of the eagle in the blaze of noonday splendor, swept the 
remotest verge of the country, and he forgot all lesser 
distinctions in the proud consciousness that he was an 
American senator. 10 

The greatest speech which he ever uttered was made 
in reply to Mr. Hayne. That speech, whether we regard 
the magnitude of the interests which it reviewed, the 
danger which impended over the institutions of the country, 
the effect produced by its delivery, or the amazing grandeur 15 
of the effort itself, was as important and as impressive 
as a battle. 

All the great elements which entered into the com- 
position of Mr. Webster's character were displayed in it. 
The figure with which it opens, the allusion to the mariner, 20 
who has for days lost sight of the heavens, availing him- 
self of the first pause in the storm to take his latitude; 
his tribute to Massachusetts; his passionate declaration 
of his purpose to stand by American liberty, or to fall 
with it amid the proudest monuments of her glory; his 25 
great argument in defense of the integrity of the Federal 
government and his triumphant and sublime peroration, 
closing with the memorable words, "liberty and union, 
now and forever, one and inseparable," — all were 
characteristic of the orator, who was the living im- 30 
personation of the idea which has come down to us 



200 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

from ancient Greece of transcendent eloquence like that 
of Demosthenes when he delivered the Oration for the 
Crown. 

Over the senate chamber the American flag was flying, 
5 and through the glass dome its folds might be seen float- 
ing in the breeze, as Mr. Webster uttered that passage 
which described its bearing those words emblazoned upon 
it in characters of living light ; while the effect upon the 
audience which thronged every spot within the reach of 

iohis voice was overwhelming, the words still ring in our 

ears, and the scene will be preserved by History and 

Painting as one of the most memorable and impressive 

which has occurred in the fortunes of the Republic. 

But we cannot linger this evening over scenes which 

15 attract us. We must content ourselves with a hurried 
glance at the great man whose form so lately towered 
among us so stately and majestic, and of whose sudden 
prostration we think, as Thackeray says of Lingo, with 
emotions such as we experience when we think of the fall 

20 of an empire. 

But we may be allowed to say that it is the crowning 
glory of his career that the last great utterance which he 
ever made — his speech of the 7th of March, 1850 — 
was an utterance of great and patriotic sentiments, 

25 sounding out through the whole land; appealing to Massa- 
chusetts to stand by the Constitution; assuring the 
South of his purpose to carry out the provision of the 
national compact; calling upon the country, as a con- 
script father might have appealed to Rome, to be true 

30 to herself, — an utterance which will sound out to future 
ages. 






H. W. HILLIARD 201 

It was a heroic speech, and entitled him to the name 
which his friends had long ago given him of "Defender 
of the Constitution." Such a man was 

"Not for an age, 
But for all time." 5 

Turning away from the Capitol, quitting his department 
of State with a heart yearning for the quiet of home, the 
fresh pure air of the seashore to fan his fevered cheek, 
and the endearment of kindred to soothe his declining 
days, the great statesman went to Marshfield : he went 10 
there to die. 

These last days were as full of solemn grandeur as the 
light streaming through the stained-glass window of a 
cathedral. The statesman is lost sight of; we see only 
the man. There are words uttered which disclose the 15 
deep religious sentiment that was an element in his nature ; 
words of trust in God; broken utterances as to His rod 
and His staff supporting the steps about to enter the 
valley of the shadow of death ; words that tell how much 
of poetry there was in his heart ; broken lines of Gray's 20 
" Elegy in a Country Churchyard." 

"The curfew tolls the knell of parting day"; 

and a solemn, final leave-taking of the loved ones of his 
household. 

Then the light faded out of those large, lustrous eyes, 25 
and Webster was dead. 

Wherever the tidings spread, the flag of the country 
drooped ; men were startled in high places and in humble • 
ones; some wept; and all who could reach Marshfield 



202 SOUTHEBN ORATORS 

went to look upon -the dead majesty of the nation, as it 
lay in the deep, tranquil sleep of death, under the spread- 
ing boughs of an immense tree, which had often sheltered 
its lord when living. 

What a career closed there ! a career far the most bril- 
liant which has been seen in this county. 

We heard of his death as we should have received the 
intelligence of a national calamity. 



HENRY ALEXANDER WISE 

The American Party and the Roman Catholics 

You tell the people that Catholics never gave aid to 
civil liberty; that they never yet struck a blow for the 
freedom of mankind. Who gave you alliance against 
the king of England? Who but that Catholic king, 
Louis XVI ° ? He sent you from the court of Versailles, 5 
the boy of Washington's camp, a foreigner who never 
was naturalized, but bled at the redoubt at Yorktown. 
And not only did Lafayette bleed at the redoubt of York- 
town, when Arnold, a native proved, like Absalom, a 
traitor, but when the German, De Kalb,° fell at the 10 
field of Camden, on Southern soil, with fourteen bayonet 
wounds transfixing his body, and, dying, praised Mary- 
land militia, Gates, the Yankee native, ran seventy-five 
miles without looking behind. And not only that : In 
that intense moment when the Declaration of our In- 15 
dependence was brought into Carpenter's Hall by Rut- 
ledge and Franklin and Jefferson, and laid upon the table 
— that holy paper, which not only pledged life and honor, 
but fortune, too — realize that moment of intense, of 
deep, of profound interest, when the Independence of 20 
this land hung upon the acts of men ; when, one by one, 
men arose from their seats and went to the table to pledge 

203 



204 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

lives and fortunes and sacred honor, — at length one 
spare, pale-faced man arose and went and dipped the pen 
into ink and signed " Charles Carroll, " and when reminded 
that it might not be known what Charles Carroll it was, 
5 that it be known that it was a Charles Carroll who was 
pledging a principality of fortune, he added the words 
"of Carrollton." He was a Catholic representative from 
a Catholic colony. And, sir, before George Washington 
was born, before Lafayette wielded the sword or Charles 

10 Carroll the pen for his country, six hundred and forty 
years ago, on the 16th of June, 1214, there was another 
scene enacted on the face of the globe, when the general 
character of all charters of freedom was gained — when 
one man — a man called Stephen Langton — swore the 

15 barons of England, for the people, against the orders of 
the Pope and against the power of the King — swore the 
barons on the high altar of the Catholic Church at St. 
Edmondsbury, that they would have Magna Charta or 
die for it, — the charter which secures to every one of 

20 you to-day trial by jury, freedom of the press, freedom of 
the pen, the confronting of witnesses with the accused, 
and the opening of secret dungeons — that charter was 
obtained by Stephen Langton against the Pope and 
against the king of England ; and if you Know-nothings 

25 don't know who Stephen Langton was, you know nothing 
sure enough. He was a Catholic archbishop of Canter- 
bury. I come here not to praise the Catholics, but I 
come here to acknowledge historical truth, and to 
ask of Protestants what has heretofore been the pride 

30 and boast of Protestants, — tolerance of opinion in re- 
ligious faith. All we ask is tolerance. All we ask is, 



HENRY ALEXANDER WISE 205 

that if you hate the Catholics because they have pro- 
scribed heretics, you won't outproscribe proscription. 
If you hate the Catholics because they have nunneries 
and monasteries and Jesuitical orders, don't out Jesuit 
the Jesuits by going into dark-lantern secret chambers 5 
to apply test oaths. If you hate the Catholics because 
you say they encourage the Machiavellian expediency 
of telling lies sometimes, don't swear yourselves not to 
tell the truth. Here are the oaths — the oaths that bind 
you under no circumstances to disclose who you are or 10 
what you are, and that bind you not only to political, but 
to social proscription. Here is your book (holding up 
a copy of the American ritual) — your Bible which re- 
quires you to stick up your notices between midnight and 
daybreak. I don't object to secrecy. I am a member 15 
of a secret order, and I am proud to be a brother Mason ; 
and I am at liberty by my order to say that as to its ends, 
its purposes, its designs, Masonry has no secrets. Its 
ends, its purposes, its aims, are to make a brotherhood 
of charity amongst men. Its end is the end of the 20 
Christian law of religion. I know not how any Mason 
can be a Know-nothing. Masonry binds its members 
to respect and obey the laws of the land in which we live ; 
and when the Constitution of the United States declares 
that no religious test shall be made a qualification for 25 
office, Masonry dare not interpose by conspiring, in a 
secret association, to attempt to make a religious test 
a qualification for office. When Virginia has an act of 
religious freedom — an act that is no longer a mere statute 
law, but is now a part of the organic law, and which says 30 
that no man shall be burdened for religious opinion's 



206 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

sake — Masonry dare not conspire to burden any man 
for opinion's sake. Masonry has no secrets but the simple 
tests by which it recognizes its brotherhood. It is bound 
to respect the law and to tolerate differences of opinion 
5 in religion and politics. I do not complain of secrecy, 
but I complain of secrecy for political objects. What 
is your object? It is to assail the Constitution of the 
United States, to conspire, to contradict the Constitution 
and laws of the land; it is to conspire against the Con- 

10 stitution and laws, and swear men by test oaths — the 
most odious instruments of tyranny that intolerance and 
proscription have ever devised. It is not only to proscribe 
Catholics and foreigners, but it is to proscribe Protestants 
and natives, too, who will not unite with you in pro- 

15 scribing Catholics and foreigners. It is further than that : 
It destroys all individuality in the man. You bring in 
your novitiate, you swear him to do — what ? To give 
up his conscience, his judgment, his will, to the judgment 
and the conscience and the will of an association of men 

20 who are not willing that others should enslave them., 
but by their test oath enslave themselves. 



J. L. M. CURRY 

On the Admission of Kansas 

Mr Chairman, the Kansas bill contains three distinct 
features. First. It denies to Congress the power to 
legislate slavery into a Territory, or exclude it therefrom ; 
and, without lifting the unconstitutional Missouri re- 
strictions to the dignity of a formal repeal, simply de- 5 
clares it "inoperative and void." Second. It transfers 
the powers of Congress to the Territorial legislature, 
and vests in it full jurisdiction over all rightful subjects 
of legislation, leaving the people perfectly free to regulate 
their domestic institutions in their own way, subject only 10 
to the Constitution of the United States. Third. It 
guarantees to the people of the Territory admission as 
a State into the Union, with or without slavery, as their 
constitution may prescribe at the time of such admission. 

The passage of such a bill was an era in political science, 15 
and a monument marking its advancement. Founded 
on the principle of local self-government, keeping a strict 
separation between "local and Federal interests," it 
avoided sectional collisions, limited Northern supremacy, 
and protected a distant people against the fluctuating and 20 
oppressive legislation of a geographical majority, ple- 
thoric with power, intent on its purposes, ignorant of 
local wants, and incapable, because acting out of the 

207 



208 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

sphere of intelligence and observation, of promoting 
domestic happiness and security. Prior to its adoption, 
Congress had arrogated a despotic, because unlimited, 
power over the Territories, fixing their normal condition, 
5 regulating their institutions, prescribing their civiliza- 
tion, and controlling their destiny. The Kansas bill 
reversed this practice, confined the Federal legislature 
within the scope of its limited jurisdiction, and withdrew 
the vexed question of slavery from congressional considera- 

10 tion, and transferred it to the arbitrament of those in- 
terested, and who were most intimately affected by the 
existence or non-existence of slave labor. It acknowl- 
edged the inability of Congress to legislate for the local 
and domestic interests of a remote people; refused to 

15 subject them to Federal dominion, and threw them upon 
their own resources, to develop their own system of 
culture, and contend for all the prizes of life. The measure 
was intended to stop the flowing of the bitter waters of 
Marah° ; to stop agitation in Congress, to stop discord 

20 and strife and fraternal hate, and accomplish a per- 
manent settlement, in principle and in substance. It was 
not a mere temporary adjustment, contingent on popular 
caprice, or controlled by paltry considerations of policy 
or expediency, but a final, conclusive, and irrevocable 

25 settlement, for all time to come, and for every territorial 
organization. As such, it was accepted by the people 
of the United States ; and as such, a common patriotism 
of all sections rejoiced in its consummation. It violated 
no principle of justice, conflicted with no constitutional 

30 prohibition ; but in truth and justice met together, 
freedom and the Constitution embraced each other. 



J. L. M. CURRY 209 

It antagonized centralization, and was a happy illustra- 
tion of local self-government. 

Under the practical application of the law, in October, 
1856, "the sense" of the people of Kansas has been taken 
"upon the expediency of calling a convention to forms 
a State constitution." An affirmative vote being given, 
the Territorial legislature passed a law for the election 
of delegates to the Convention by popular suffrage. The 
delegates were legally chosen at a fair and public election. 
The Convention, thus rightfully summoned by a popular 10 
vote, and the legislature, assembled and framed a republi- 
can Constitution, and submitted so much of the instru- 
ment as related to slavery, to a direct popular vote on 
the 21st of December last; and now, all the initiatory 
steps having been taken, in accordance with, and sub- 1 5 
ordinate to, the Territorial authorities, which have been 
recognized by the executives and .judiciary of Kansas, 
the President and people of the United States, she knocks 
at the door for the privilege of admission into this Con- 
federacy, and to be recognized as a peer. From begin- 20 
ning to end, ab ovo usque ad malum, the forms of law have 
been observed; and while occasional excesses have been 
committed, the Constitution and the Convention have 
been the work of conservatives and the law abiding, in 
opposition to those who have been guilty of faction and 25 
disorder; and, in the language of Governor Walker, 
a rebellion so iniquitous, and necessarily involving such 
awful consequences as has never before disgraced any 
age or country. 

Compared with California and Michigan, the action 30 
of Kansas has been sober, methodical, and blameless; 



210 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

and but for its action on slavery, but for the fact that, 
in her high discretion she has cast her lot with the South, 
scarce a word of other than simulated dissent would have 
been heard from any quarter. Attracting the attention 
5 of all sections ; being the arena of a fierce and uninter- 
rupted contest; subject to unnatural and stimulated 
immigration, Kansas has slowly and regularly and publicly 
and voluntarily taken every step, the successive processes 
of which have led her from the wilderness, through the 

10 intermediate organizations, up to her present attitude 
of a sovereign State, desiring admission into the great 
sisterhood of sovereign States. She is met with cold 
rebuffs and refusals, and to sustain the project of remand- 
ing her back to Territorial pupilage, the most singular 

15 pretexts are alleged, the most monstrous doctrines are 
avowed, the most glaring injustice is proposed to be done, 
the most reckless inconsistency is practiced. 

Several positions have been assumed in both branches 
of Congress by those who were classed heretofore as friends 

20 and advocates of the Kansas bill to justify their present 
hostility to her admission, and their failure to allow her 
the guaranteed privilege of coming into the Union, with 
or without slavery, as the Constitution may prescribe. 
The most prominent objection, most earnestly urged, 

25 and most confidently insisted upon, is, that the Con- 
vention did not submit the whole Constitution to popular 
ratification or rejection. I fear, Mr. Chairman, this is an 
afterthought, trumped up for the occasion. What was, 
a short while ago, the curse of the age, the foul blot upon 

30 our national escutcheon, the aggregation of all ills, has 
suddenly become the most insignificant and unimportant 



J. L. M. CURRY 211 

part of the Constitution. I will not use harsh terms in 
characterizing such conduct, but to me it is singularly 
unaccountable. What was the bone of contention in 
the Kansas bill ? Slavery. What was the obnoxiousness 
of the Missouri restriction ? The localizing and proscrip- 5 
tion of slavery. What was the burden of Abolition ac- 
cusation? The extension of slavery. What was the 
theme of song, and lecture, and sermon, and speech, and 
petition, and clerical protest, but slavery? Every in- 
telligent man must feel and know that if the constitution ro 
of Kansas had been, in the language of my friend from 
Ohio [Mr. Cox], "an emanation from the pit," and had 
excluded slavery, it would have been tolerated and de- 
fended by the greater portion of those who are now so 
rampant and hostile ; while, on the contrary, if it had 1 5 
been perfect as inspiration, and, like inspiration, recog- 
nized the existence of slavery, it would have been assailed 
and condemned. The whole controversy and agitation, 
for four years, on the Kansas bill, have grown out of 
slavery. . 20 

Mr. Chairman, if the history of our country were read 
by the light of the Constitution alone, these constant 
slavery agitations and discussions in Congress, the hot 
and eager haste manifested to introduce nonslaveholding 
States into the Union, and the embarrassments and delays 25 
and obstacles thrown in the way of the admission of slave- 
holding States, would be absolutely incomprehensible. 
To dedicate California to hireling labor, to swell the politi- 
cal preponderance of the North, the most gigantic and 
unparalleled fraud and robbery are unblushingly com- 30 
mitted, and the Constitution and the rights of the South 



212 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

are ruthlessly trampled under foot. To destroy forever 
the equilibrium in the Senate, and deprive us of that 
necessary protection and safeguard, new States are carved 
out of the Territories, and acquisitions of land, contiguous 
5 to the South, and adapted to slave labor, are persistently 
opposed and prevented. And now, when Kansas, under 
a solemn stipulation, and in spite of the mischievous 
opposition of her governors, forms her domestic institu- 
tions in her own way, to defeat her admission, there are 

i o to be found prominent men, who violate their antecedents, 
disown and disinherit their own offspring, break up 
cherished political associations, form unholy alliances, 
and sit "cheek by jowl" and become as loving as Damon 
and Pythias with those, for whom, but a few moons since, 

15 the English language was found inadequate to furnish 
sufficient invectives and reproaches. The statesman 
and philosopher and patriot ma}^ well pause to inquire into 
the cause of this singular spectacle. Other causes may 
be assigned; timid but well-meaning men may search 

20 after pretexts in the apparent irregularities in Kansas ; 
but to the mind of the South, to the public conviction 
of that people, there is but one satisfactory solution of 
the problem, and that is the recognition of slavery in the 
Constitution, the difference of social relations, the im- 

25 placable and inveterate hostility of her enemies. I do 
not refer, in this classification of opponents, to those 
who denounce slavery as the sum of all villainies and 
abominations, and, following out their depraved instincts 
and sentiments, would pursue a phantom of speculative 

30 liberty and equality, and reconstruct government, not in 
submission to the word of God, but in defiance of His 



J. L. M. CURRY 213 

decrees and prophecies and providence, and in contemp- 
tuous disregard of those first and everlasting principles 
which are necessary to preserve freedom from licentious- 
ness, and self-government from anarchy; but I allude 
to that class, not given over to judicial blindness and 5 
atheism, who profess a reverence for God, who worketh 
all things after the counsel of His own will, and a love for 
the Constitution, with all its grants, guarantees, and 
prohibitions. And what has been done to merit or 
justify this exclusion from common territory, and this 10 
denial of constitutional equality ? In the past, whenever 
perils have environed us, and a common foe invaded our 
land, interrupted our commerce, or injured our citizens, 
the South has been lavish of her money and her treasure. 
In the tented field, in the councils of the Republic, at 15 
home and abroad, everywhere, her sons have reflected 
luster on the American name, and furnished materials 
for immortal history. Infringing the rights of no section, 
sharing none of the bounties of the government, bearing, 
through Federal legislation, an undue proportion of its 20 
burdens, she has never asked anything but severe con- 
stitutional justice, and she only asks that now. To-day, 
although in a minority, she is recognized and admitted, 
by all right-thinking men, as the conservative portion 
of the Union, and the only effectual breakwater against 25 
social, moral, and political innovations. Are there 
Northern laborers who, grinding under the oppression 
of power, eke out a miserable existence, or, suffering from 
the terrible pecuniary crisis upon us, gaze at the gorgeous 
palaces and splendid equipages and costty apparel around 30 
them, and with hungry mouths cry out, with startling 



214 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

and terrific emphasis, "Bread or blood!" The Southern 
laborers, in contentment and plenty, are scarcely aware 
of any financial pressure, because labor and capital are 
there harmonized, and there is no conflict between 
5 them. 



W. L. YANCEY 
On the Platform of the Democratic Party 

Gentlemen of the Convention, my State has now to 
ask of this body the adoption of the resolutions reported 
by the majority of the Committee, because her Repre- 
sentatives here believe that they substantially conform 
to the principles enunciated in her platform, which we 5 
are instructed to insist upon as the only basis upon which 
Alabama can associate with the National Democracy 
as a party. My State, gentlemen of the Convention, has 
been the mark of many a shaft of calumny and of misrep- 
resentation and falsehood in relation to their political 10 
position. 

It has been charged, in order to demoralize whatever 
influence we might be entitled to, either from our per- 
sonal or political characteristics, or as representatives of 
the State of Alabama, that we are disruptionists, dis- 15 
unionists per se; that we desire to break up the party in 
the Union itself. Each and all of these allegations, 
come from That quarter they may, I pronounce to be 
false. There is no disruptionist that I know of, and 
if there are factionists in our delegation they could not 20 
have got in there with the knowledge upon the part 
of our State Convention that they were of so un- 
215 



216 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

enviable a character. We come here with two great 
purposes; first, to save the constitutional rights of the 
South, if it lies in our power to do so. We desire to save 
the South by the best means that present themselves to us, 
5 and the State of Alabama believes that the best means 
now in existence is the organization of the Democratic 
party, if we shall be able to persuade it to adopt the 
constitutional basis upon which we think the South alone 
can be saved. Democrats ourselves from youth upward, 

i o belonging to a State that has never been anything but 
Democratic, always voting for a Democratic President, 
and nearly always sending a united vote to the House of 
Representatives, and Democratic senators to the Senate 
of the United States, we prefer that the honor of saving 

15 the country shall crown the brow of the Democratic party. 
Deceived as we have been by much shown in the history 
of that party, we yet have some hope that it will come 
to the rescue of the country; we have some confidence 
that it has a desire to come to the rescue. We have come 

20 here, then, with the twofold purpose of saving the country 
and of saving the Democracy; and if the Democracy 
will not lend itself to that high, holy, and elevated purpose ; 
if it cannot elevate itself above the mere question of how 
perfect shall be its mere personal organization and how 

25 widespread shall be its mere personal organization and 
how widespread shall be its mere voting success, then, 
we say to you, gentlemen, mournfully and regretfully, 
that, in the opinion of the State of Alabama, and, I be- 
lieve, of the whole South, you have failed in your mission, 

30 and it will be our duty to go forth and make an ap- 
peal to the loyalty of the country to stand by that Con- 



W. L. YANCEY * 217 

stitution which party organizations have deliberately re- 
jected. 

It is but natural that the North, conscious of voting 
strength in Congress, should seek to wield the government 
to its own aggrandizement, and should listen restlessly, 5 
and often defiantly, to the stern demand of the South 
that the constitutional restraints of delegated power 
should be rigidly observed; but at the same time, you 
must remember that it is not only natural for the South 
to do this, but that it is constitutional ; and it is in the 10 
compact that you shall forbear. 

The simple position of Alabama, then, is upon the Con- 
stitution of the country. Taking our position as a mi- 
nority, and holding that Constitution up against your 
prejudices — holding it up against your passions — hold- 15 
ing it up against your loose notions of what are your 
duties as regards the minority, and as regards yourselves 

— holding it up as something that you must and shall 
respect — as it is something that you say you do respect 

— thus planting ourselves purely upon the Constitution, 20 
and asking nothing which that instrument does not 
grant, we have a right to ask, not only of this young 
giant of the West, but of this older Northeast and North, 
that they will calmly and considerately and intelligently 
with us read that instrument and see wherein we are 25 
wronged, and wherein you are aggressing. We of the 
South, it is a possibility, may mistake our constitutional 
position. We of the South may be wrong in our exposition 
of the Constitution. There is a possibility that you may 
be right. There is a possibility that, in view of our interest 30 



218 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

upon this question, you have more impartially considered 
it than we have, and that our views upon this question are 
not quite supported by the rigid letter and spirit of the Con- 
stitution. I have no doubt on this question; our people 
5 have no doubt upon it ; but in order to show you what 
I conceive to be your duty, and I trust you will think I 
do so in all proper deference, I will consider that such 
may be the case. Then how is it ? Ours is the property 
invaded; ours are the institutions which are at stake; 

10 ours is the peace that is to be destroyed ; ours is the 
property that is to be destroyed; ours is the honor at 
stake — the honor of children, the honor of families, the 
lives, perhaps, of all — all of which rests upon what your 
course may ultimately make a great heaving volcano of 

x 5 passion and crime, if you are enabled to consummate your 
designs. Bear with us, then, if we stand sternly upon 
what is yet that dormant volcano, and -say we yield 
no position here until we are convinced we are wrong. 
We are in a position to ask you to yield. What right 

20 of yours, gentlemen of the North, have we of the 
South ever invaded ? What institution of yours have we 
ever assailed, directly or indirectly ? What laws have we 
ever passed that have invaded, or induced others to in- 
vade, the sanctity of your homes or to put your lives in 

25 jeopardy, or were likely to destroy the fundamental insti- 
tutions of your States? The wisest, the most learned, 
and the best amongst you will remain silent, because 
you cannot say that we have done this thing. If 
their view is right and ours is not strictly demanded by 

30 the compact, still the consequence, in a remote degree, of 
your proposition, may bring this result upon us; and if 



W. L. YANCEY 219 

you have no domestic nor municipal peace at stake, and 
no property at stake, and no fundamental institutions of 
your liberties at stake, are we asking any too much of 
you to-day when we ask you to yield to us in this matter 
as brothers, in order to quiet our doubts — for in yielding 5 
you lose nothing that is essentially right ? 

SgC S|S «p »|C 3|* 3|S *F 

What does all this indicate? The Democratic party, 
we are here told truly, once had an overpowering influence 
in the Northern States, and we have been taunted here, 
to-day, that there was once a time when Democracy was 10 
not prevalent at the South, and when the Northern States 
could elect a Democratic President without the aid of the 
Southern vote. I acknowledged it. I acknowledge that 
so long as mere party issues were before the country, not 
involving any of its fundamental institutions, the South 15 
differed with each other on these issues of policy. The 
question of the United States Bank, of internal improve- 
ment by the general government, and of the tariff, caused 
great differences of opinion at the South. 

In the Northern States the Democratic party was over- 20 
whelmingly in the ascendant. Why are they not so now? 
And why is the South more unitedly Democratic? The 
answer is ready. — The antislavery sentiment is domi- 
nant at the North — the slavery sentiment is dominant 
at the South. And, gentlemen, let me tell you why, if it 25 
is not presumption in me to tell you, you have grown 
weaker and weaker. It is my belief, from some observa- 
tion and reflection upon this subject, that you are not in 
the ascendant now because you have tampered with the 
antislavery feeling of that section. I do not mean that 3° 



220 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

you have tampered with it or yielded to it as a matter of 
choice. I do not mean that you are willful traitors to your 
convictions of duty, but this is what I do mean : that in 
your own hearts, finding the overwhelming preponderance 
5 of power in the antislavery sentiment, believing it to be 
the common will of your people, you hesitated, you 
trembled before its march, and you did not triumph over 
the young Hercules in his cradle because you made no 
direct effort to do so. 

10 " You gave up the real ground of battle, the key to 
success, when you acknowledged, what was the founda- 
tion of the antislavery sentiment, that slavery was 
wrong. You acknowledged that it could not exist any- 
where by the law of nature or by the law of God; that 

1 5 it could exist nowhere except by virtue of statutory 
enactment. In that you yielded the whole question. In 
that you showed the weakness of the soldier who doubts 
in the midst of the conflict on the field of battle. You 
simply said beseechingly to your antislavery country- 

20 men, " Slavery does exist, but we are not to blame for it." 
There was the weakness of your position. If you had 
taken the position that had been taken by one gallant 
son of the South, who proclaimed, under the hisses of 
thousands, that slavery was right, that antislavery 

25 demon, if not dead, would long since have been in chains 
at your feet. 

******* 
Now what does all this indicate to us? Gentlemen, 
these are, in part, evidences which, I solemnly assure you, 
have produced in the South — I speak by authority for 



W. L. YANCEY 221 

Alabama, and I speak from assurances which I believe 
cannot be mistaken from other States — a widespread 
and deep-seated conviction that the South, with her in- 
stitutions, is unsafe in the Union. It is upon that basis, 
upon these premises, that we proceed when we come here 5 
— when Alabama comes here and asks you to consider 
well your position upon this subject; to take a new 
departure if it is, even as you say, a new departure. If 
it is but the reaffirmance of an old truth, we ask you to 
reaffirm it in more distinct and unequivocal language, in 10 
order to reassure the Southern people of safety in the 
party and in the Union, and thus save both from disrup- 
tion. I pass on with — I will not use so strong an. ex- 
pression as "contempt" — but I conceive that I cannot 
afford to notice any of the specious declamation and 15 
partisan arguments that have been made here to-day. 
We come with the Constitution in our hand and say to 
you, if we have been wrong, let us reason together and 
see if we cannot be set right ; if we have been right, let 
us reendorse that right in plainer and less equivocal 20 
language. And why? If I had come here, my counts- 
men, as a disunionist — if I had come here as a disrup- 
tionist — if I had come here as a factionist — I should 
come to you now with the Alabama platform in my 
hand, and present it for adoption or rejection, without the 25 
dotting of an "i" or the crossing of a "t." But, I say 
to you frankly, while the majority platform is not all that 
Alabama wants, it is not even all that Alabama asks ; that, 
while it falls short, indeed, of what I believe the highest 
policy of a statesman should be, to arrest this great evil — 30 
this cancer, which is not only eating into your body, but 



222 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

into the body of the country at large — from a desire to 
harmonize — from a desire to confer with brothers — 
knowing that you represent all the sections of this vast 
and magnificent Republic, we are willing to come together 
S upon some such platform as you may make which shall 
afford to us protection in the South; and we think you 
can afford to yield that to us, especially when it will bring 
to the support of your platform a united South; and 
therefore it is that I intend to vote for the majority plat- 
10 form, which, if not giving us all, yet provides for an active 
application of the principles substantially involved in 
the Alabama Resolutions. We may therefore accept that 
platform with honor, and continue our deliberations with 
you. 

■%. $ % % % ^ ^ 

15 It was only when the South had obtained an advantage 
in Kansas, and was about to test the question whether 
another slave State could be admitted into the Union, 
that this new phase of squatterism appeared as a prac- 
tical issue under the more euphonious name of popular 

20 sovereignty. Kansas applied for admission under the 
Lecompton Constitution, recognizing the institution of 
African slavery. The people who had elected the dele- 
gates to the Convention had required no submission of 
such constitution as might be framed. But the Conven- 

25 tion did submit the vexed question of slavery, and that 
was ratified by the people. This was all done "in their 
own way/' and in strict accordance with the organic act. 
Mr. Douglas then, for the first time, in practical, tangi- 
ble form, brought forward the astonishing doctrine, that 

30 the will of the State Convention — assembled by legal 



W. L. YANCEY 223 

authority, and by the will of the people — clothed for 
the first time with the right to do a sovereign act — the 
formation of the governmental institutions of a new 
State, must submit the result of their labors to a popular 
vote at the hustings — the Convention, in which alone s 
lies any claim to the assumption of power to make the 
fundamental law in our system of Republican govern- 
ment, must yield its own judgment to the mere masses. 

The argument was that the inherent right of the people 
to all the powers of self-government had been invaded ; 10 
dogmas of the Declaration of Independence are brought 
forward to assert the most revolutionary and incendiary 
doctrines ; dogmas of the Revolution are brought forward 
for the support of principles destructive of all binding 
force and security of organic law; and we who are not a 15 
mobocracy, we who are not in fact a democracy in form 
of government; we who have a representative govern- 
ment, where laws and constitutions are made by repre- 
sentative power, ought to guard well our safety lest the 
wisdom, judgment, and experience of the past be thrown 20 
down and trampled upon in the wild passionate struggle 
of the masses for party or agrarian ascendancy. 

Gentlemen of the Convention, that venerable, that able, 
that revered jurist, the honorable Chief Justice of the 
United States, trembling upon the very verge of the grave, 25 
for years kept merely alive by the pure spirit of patriotic 
duty that burns within his breast — a spirit that will not 
permit him to succumb to the gnawings of disease and 
the weakness of mortality, — which held him, as it were, 
suspended between two worlds, with his spotless ermine 30 
around him, standing upon the very altar of justice, has 



224 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

given to us the utterance of the Supreme Court of the 
United States upon this very question. 

Let the murmur of the hustings be stilled — let the 
voices of individual citizens, no matter how great and 
5 respected in their appropriate spheres, be hushed, while 
the law, as expounded by the constituted authority of 
the country, emotionless, passionless, and just, rolls in 
its silvery cadence over the entire realm, from the Atlantic 
to the Pacific, and from the ice-bound regions of the 

10 North to the glittering waters of the Gulf. What says 
that decision? That decision tells 3^ou, gentlemen, that 
the Territorial legislature has no power to interfere with 
the slaveowner in the Territory while in a territorial con- 
dition. That decision tells you that this government is a 

15 union of sovereign States ; which States are coequal, and 
in trust for which coequal States the government holds the 
Territories. It tells you that the people of those coequal 
States have a right to go into these Territories, thus held in 
trust, with every species of property which is recognized as 

20 property by the States in which they live or by the Con- 
stitution of the United States. The venerable magistrate 
— the Court concurring with him — decided it is the duty 
of this government to afford some government for the 
Territories which shall be in accordance with this dele- 

25 gated trust power held for the States and for the people 
of the States. That decision goes still further ; it tells you 
that if Congress has seen fit, for its own convenience, and 
somewhat in accordance with the sympathies and instincts 
and genius of our institutions, to accord a form of 

30 government to the people of the Territories, it is to be 
administered precisely as Congress can administer it, and 



W. L. YANCEY 225 

to be administered as a trust for the coequal States of 
this Union, and the citizens of those States who choose 
to emigrate to those Territories. That decision goes on to 
tell you this ; that as Congress itself is bound to protect 
the property which is recognized as such of the citizens of 5 
any of the States — as Congress itself, not only has no 
power, but is expressly forbidden to exercise the power 
to deprive any owner of his property in the Territories, 
therefore, says that venerable, that passionless repre- 
sentative of justice, who yet hovers on the confines of the 10 
grave — therefore, no government formed by that Con- 
gress can have any more power than the Congress that 
created it. 

But, we are met right here with this assertion; we 
are told by the distinguished advocate of this doctrine 15 
of popular sovereignty that this opinion is not a decision 
of the Supreme Court, but merely the opinion of citizen 
Taney. He does not tell you, my countrymen, that it 
is not the opinion of the great majority of the Supreme 
Court bench. Oh, no ; but he tells you that it is a matter 20 
that is obiter dicta outside the jurisdiction of the Court; 
in other words, extra-judicial — that it is simply the 
opinion of Chief Justice Taney, as an individual, and not 
the decision of the Court, because it was not the subject- 
matter before the Court. Now, Mr. Douglas and all 25 
others who make that assertion and undertake to get rid 
of the moral, the constitutional, the intellectual power of 
the argument, put themselves directly in conflict with 
the venerable Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the 
United States, and with the recorded decision of the 3° 
Court itself — because Chief Justice Taney, after dispos- 



226 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

ing of the demurrer in that case, undertook to go on and 
to decide the question upon the facts and merits of the 
case, and, said he, in doing that, we are met with the 
objection "that anything we may say upon that part of 
5 the case will be extra-judicial and mere obiter dicta. 
This is a manifest mistake, etc."; and the Court — not 
Chief Justice Taney, but the whole Court, with but two 
dissenting voices — decided that it was not obiter dicta; 
that it was exactly in point, within the jurisdiction of the 

10 Court, and that it was the duty of the Court to decide it. 
Now then, who shall the democracy recognize as au- 
thority on this point — a statesman, no matter how 
brilliant and able and powerful in intellect, in the very 
meridian of life — animated by an ardent and consuming 

15 ambition — struggling as no other man has ever done for 
the high and brilliant position of candidate for the presi- 
dency of the United States, at the hand of this great 
party — or that old and venerable jurist who, having 
filled his years with honor, leaves you his last great decision 

20 before stepping from the high place of earthly power into 
the grave to appear before his Maker, in whose presence 
deception is impossible, and earthly position as dust in 
the balance? 



LOUIS TREZEVANT WIGFALL 

South Carolina and Secession 

Mr. Wigfall. Mr. President, as a further reason for 
supposing that, by the Constitution of the United States 
itself, the fact is established that the inhabitants who 
reside upon that territory between the two oceans, and 
between the Lakes and the Gulf, do not compose one 5 
single political community, but are divided into thirty- 
three separate, distinct political communities, called States, 
I shall allude now to the second section of the third article 
of the Constitution, which provides that the judicial 
power shall extend to all controversies — 10 

"Between a State and citizens of another State; between 
citizens of different States." 

Here is a distinct declaration that there are States, 
and every lawyer knows that a bill is subject to demurrer 
in any of the Federal courts which does not state dis- 15 
tinctly that the parties litigant are citizens of different 
States. The first section of the fourth article declares 
that — 

"Full faith and credit shall be given in each State to the public 
acts, records, and judicial proceedings of every other State." 20 

The second section declares that — 

"The citizens of each State shall be entitled to all privileges 
and immunities of citizens in the several States." 

227 



228 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

Now, is there any State constitution in which there is 
a declaration that the citizens of each county shall be 
entitled to the privileges and immunities of citizens of the 
different counties? Could such phraseology be used in 
5 this Constitution unless there were different States, dif- 
ferent political communities, different governments, dif- 
• f erent nations — composing what ? The Constitution in 
its preamble declares what — the United States. That is 
the form of government under which we are living ; that 
10 is the form of government that was established by the 
thirteen original States; that is the form of government 
between the thirty-three present States. There is one 
other clause — it is the second clause of the second sec- 
tion of the fourth article: — 

15 "A person charged in any State with treason, felony, or other 
crime, who shall flee from justice, and be found in another State, 
shall, on demand of the executive authority of the State from 
which he fled, be delivered up, to be removed to the State having 
jurisdiction of the crime." 

20 Now, here is, in this Federal compact, a declaration 
that treason may be committed against a State. I ask 
every lawyer who has a seat in this Chamber whether 
treason is a crime that can be committed except against 
sovereignty ? If, then, these States are sovereign, if they 

25 are political communities, if treason may be committed 
against them, there is an end of the argument. But I 
may be answered that treason may also be committed 
against the United States. I am fully aware of that. 
Treason consists in levying war against the United States ; 

30 and one who levies war against the United States, being 



LOUIS TREZEVANT WIGFALL 229 

a citizen of one of those United States, necessarily levies 
war against his own State, and is therefore guilty of 
treason. But while that hypothesis is perfectly consistent 
with the premise which I have laid down, that the States 
are sovereign, the other is directly in conflict with it. If 5 
the inhabitants of the United States be one political com- 
munity ; if they compose a nation ; if there are no States, 
but all the inhabitants together compose one State or 
nation, then it is utterly impossible that treason can be 
committed against any one of these geographical divisions ; 10 
as impossible as that treason can be committed against a 
county. I really do not know how to argue questions so 
plain. To my mind, they are so conclusive that I need 
but to state them and feel that argument could not add 
to their force. 15 

I had intended to go somewhat at length into this 
question; but I shall not weary the Senate further. It 
is important now that we should begin to understand our 
position and what we are to do. It is known to every 
senator upon this floor that one of the States of this 20 
Union will, before this day next week, cease to be one of 
the United States. She will pass a solemn ordinance 
before this day week. I see the senator from New York 
[Mr. King] smiles. Probably on the other side of your 
face you will laugh before this thing is terminated. 25 
Laugh on, laugh on. Before this day next week, I 
hazard the assertion that South Carolina, in convention 
assembled, will have revoked the ratification of the 
treaty which makes her one of these United States. 
Having revoked that ratification, she will adopt an amend- 30 
ment to her constitution by which she will have vested 



230 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

in the government of South Carolina all those powers 
which she, conjointly with the other States, had previously 
exercised through this foreign department, and in the 
government of South Carolina will be vested the right to 
5 declare war, to conclude peace, to make treaties, to enter 
into alliances, and to do all other matters and things 
which sovereign States may of right do. When that is 
done, a minister plenipotentiary and envoy extraordinary 
will be sent to present his credentials; and when they 

10 are denied, or refused to be recognized by this govern- 
ment, I say to you that the sovereignty of her soil will 
be asserted, and it will be maintained at the point of the 
bayonet. Laugh! Nero fiddled while Rome was burn- 
ing ; and you who have it in your power even yet to save 

15 your suffering poor in the dead of winter, when they need 
both food and fuel, from starvation and destruction, are 
here treating with contempt those who wish to discuss 
these questions soberly and seriously. That the people 
of South Carolina will assert their independence, is a fact 

20 that is known to every man within the sound of my voice. 
And why should they not, if they see fit ? I read yester- 
day the oath of allegiance that is required of every citizen 
in that State. When South Carolina became one of the 
States of this Union, that oath of allegiance and fealty 

25 to the State of South Carolina was upon her statute book 
and in her constitution. These other States confederated 
with her, knowing that her citizens were bound to swear 
allegiance to their own State, and obedience only to the 
Constitution of the United States and of their own State. 

30 There was more than this oath of allegiance which they 
swore : — 



LOUIS TREZEVANT WIG FALL 231 

"I do acknowledge the State of South Carolina is, and of right 
ought to be a free, independent, and sovereign State." . . . 
"And I do. further swear that I will bear faith and true allegiance 
to the said State, and, to the utmost of my power, will support, 
maintain, and defend" — 5 

What? 

"the freedom and independence thereof." 

With that oath upon the record, she was admitted 
into this Union; and it will not do now for her sister 
States, or for this agency of the States, that has no power 10 
except by the permission of the States, that exercises no 
power except by the permission of the States, and that 
can be stripped of every power by those States, to deny 
that the people of that State are bound to obey their 
oaths. Those who swear to obey the Constitution of the 15 
United States and violate it, laugh at oaths ; but, thank 
God, the people amongst whom I have lived, and whom 
I represent upon this floor, have never dealt so lightly 
with their oaths. I say that a more monstrous outrage 
will not have been committed in any country, than will 20 
be committed if this government attempts coercion in any 
manner. It is impracticable; it is unconstitutional; it 
is revolutionary; and the moment that this government, 
through its executive, legislative, and judicial depart- 
ments, or through any of them, shall deny that these 2 5 
States are sovereign, and shall attempt to reduce one of 
the parties to the compact to the condition of a conquered 
province, such offense will be given to every other State 
as to cause them to rally to their respective standards, 
and rescue the Constitution from the grasp of those who 30 
would tear it up and trample it under foot, 



232 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

For years past that unfortunate but gallant people have 
been misrepresented. Their palmetto has withered under 
the blighting influence of the breath of slander, and its 
broad leaves have been like the leaves of the funereal 
5 cypress ; but, thank God, it is again spreading its branches 
to the sun, and, green and luxuriant, it now presents itself 
to the gaze of the people of the thirty-three States as in 
the brightest days of its glory. Sneers and scoffs will not 
serve your purpose. Your eighteen million will find a. 

10 gallant few who will welcome them, as was well said the 
other day by the senator from Georgia [Mr. Iverson], 
"with bloody hands to hospitable graves." You may 
conquer them ; you may trail that palmetto banner in the 
dust; but you will never reduce that people to slavery. 

15 No, sir; South Carolina may be made a graveyard of 
freemen, but, before God, it will never be the habitation 
of slaves. 

When you know that the citizens of that State have 
sworn allegiance to it, and are bound, on their oaths, to 

20 obey the behests of their sovereign ; when you know that 
that State is going out of the Union, is there any sense, 
is there any justice, is there any humanity, in attempting 
to keep her in it ? You talk about enforcing the laws ! 
There is no man who would go further for enforcing the 

25 laws within the limits of the United States than I would; 
and as long as South Carolina remains in the Union, the 
laws should be enforced there ; and I hazard the assertion 
that there will be no necessity for enforcing them; they 
will be obeyed. I judge that when her minister visits 

30 this court and presents his credentials, that State will 
wait until that question has been acted upon ; and not 



LOUIS TREZEVANT WIGFALL 233 

until her right to secede is denied, and authoritatively 
denied, will she insist that the Federal troops shall be 
removed from those forts which she has ceded to the Union. 
I regretted extremely to see that the President of the 
United States was laboring under a misapprehension as 5 
to the title by which these forts are held and the considera- 
tion for which they were ceded to the United States. I 
will not weary the Senate by reading further from the 
records which establish these great historical facts, but I 
state that, from the Declaration of Independence, and a 10 
year before it, until the year 1805, South Carolina was the 
possessor of all that soil upon which those forts are erected. 
In 1805 she ceded, voluntarily, to the United States, with- 
out money and' without price, those forts, upon two 
conditions only: that they should be kept in repair, and 15 
be garrisoned by the Federal government. She, pre- 
viously to that time, ceded all that territory, without 
money and without price, upon which the great and 
gallant States of Mississippi and Alabama have been 
erected. Then, having ceded for Federal purposes the 20 
land upon which these forts are erected, she appointed 
commissioners, and out of her own treasury paid for 
having the land surveyed, and, as appears from a letter 
from the engineer who was sent there to examine the 
forts, when this government had not the money to (make 25 
the repairs, the citizens of Charleston voluntarily raised 
the necessary money in order to have the repairs made. 
It is unfortunate that the President did not inform him- 
self as to the facts before insinuating that she sold for 
money this property, and therefore was not entitled to 30 
claim it. 



234 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

It was her voluntary gift to the United States for 
Federal purposes. When she ceases to be one of the 
United States, the purposes for which she made the 
cession ceases ; and those forts, and the land upon which 
5 they have been erected, should be ceded back to the State. 
While these matters are negotiating, I have no doubt 
that the State will stay her hand. It can be no offense 
to her honor or to her dignity that the troops shall not 
be removed the instant she has seceded. They must 

10 remain there for a moment ; they must for a minute ; 
they must for an hour ; they must ex necessitate rei for a 
week, possibly for a month. Therefore, until this gov- 
ernment has authoritatively denied her right, and until 
those troops are there kept for the purpose of subjugation, 

15 no offense will be offered to her honor, and no violence be 
done by her. But if there is an attempt, which I trust in 
God there may not be, to strengthen those garrisons, or 
in a moment of imprudence a man-of-war should be sent 
into that harbor, I say to you that those forts will be 

20 taken, cost it the life of every man in that State. 

Now it has got to be a fashion to speak of " the chivalry " ; 
and when South Carolina is mentioned, it has become 
fashionable to speak in such terms as to indicate that 
those men are not apt to act up to their words. When 

25 have her citizens shown themselves deficient in manhood? 
By the constitutional compact she agreed that this govern- 
ment should have the right to declare war; and when 
war was declared by the United States against England, 
and in other sections of this country questions were made 

30 as to whether the militia could be marched beyond the 
limits of their respective States, South Carolina, of her 



LOUIS TREZEVANT WIGFALL 235 

own accord, raised and equipped and put into the field, 
to cross bayonets with British regulars, one brigade, com- 
manded by one who a few years ago was a senator from 
that State. I mean Daniel Elliott Huger. When the 
war broke out with Mexico, and that State was called 5 
upon for a regiment, she responded on the instant, and 
made an appropriation not only for putting her regiment 
in the field, but for uniforming them, and they went to 
Mexico under their own palmetto ; they wore their State 
uniforms, and they were known as the Palmettoes. And, 10 
sir, how did they discharge their duties then? Did they 
fal"ter when red battle stamped his foot? I read from 
Claiborne's "Life of John A. Quitman": — 

" Colonel Butler, of the South Carolinians, had left his sick 
bed against the remonstrances of his friends to lead the Pal- 15 
mettoes to the combat. Early in the engagement his horse was 
shot under him. Soon after he received a painful wound in the 
knee, and yielded the command to Lieutenant Colonel Dickinson. 
Taking the palmetto flag from the hands of Sergeant Beggs, 
Dickinson placed himself in front, and Beggs was immediately 20 
shot down. Colonel Butler now came up to resume the com- 
mand, and was killed by the side of Dickinson, while standing 
under the flag. Dickinson himself soon fell mortally wounded 
(he died some weeks afterward), and Major Gladden received it 
from his hands and committed it to Lieutenant Baker, who being 25 
unable from debility and exhaustion to carry it, Major Gladden 
placed it in the hands of Patrick Leonard, and led his regiment 
to the charge. His men fell rapidly, but not one wavered, from 
first to last, under the concentrated fire of the enemy. In the 
whole history of war there has never been a more striking example 30 
of indifference to death, the result of stern resolve. Each man 
fought for the honor of Carolina. Several companies were almost 



236 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

annihilated. Some had not men enough to bury their dead, or 
bear their wounded to the ambulances. The uniforms of some of 
the officers were literally torn from their persons; the color- 
bearers were shot down, but the flag, bathed in their blood, was 
5 always seized as they fell and borne to the front. Proudly it 
floated through the tempest of death until the victory had been 
won, and then, all torn and blood-stained, it drooped over its 
own glorious dead. The regiment entered the battle with two 
hundred and seventy-three rank and file, and when it was over it 
10 mustered one hundred and sixty ! It had none missing ; its dead 
and wounded made up the deficiency." 

These are the men who are denounced; these are 'the 
men who are ridiculed ; this is the State that I saw, in a 
Black Republican paper within the last week, compared 

15 to one of the counties of New York, and held inferior to 
Brooklyn, because they had not the numerical strength 
of that city ! There is a point beyond which endurance, 
like patience, ceases to be a virtue. We are reaching that 
point rapidly. When South Carolina, previously to the 

20 Revolution, espoused the quarrel of other States — though 
she suffered comparatively nothing, for she was the 
favored colony, as I said yesterday — no one then com- 
plained that she was going too far; no one then com- 
plained that she was precipitating a revolution. 

25 Now the complaint is made. Why, if she has not 
suffered materially as other States have suffered, shall she 
be debarred the poor privilege of vindicating her honor? 
Suppose that she has not been robbed and plundered as 
the border States have been robbed and plundered : has 

30 she not been insulted ? Have the Black Republican States 
kept their faith or observed their oaths ? Has not legis- 



LOUIS TREZEVANT WIGFALL 237 

lature after legislature, in open violation of the Constitu- 
tion, passed laws to prevent the recapture of fugitive 
slaves, though it is a part of the Constitution? If a 
treaty of peace and amity was entered into between 
Great Britain and the United States to-morrow, and in 5 
that treaty of peace it were provided that fugitives from 
justice should be delivered up on the respective demands 
of the different governments, what would be said if, 
before the ink were dry, the British Parliament should 
pass a law prohibiting the use .of the jails of Great Britain, 10 
pass a law prohibiting the subjects of Great Britain, and 
her officers, either legislative, executive, or judicial, from 
carrying that treaty into execution? 

I am told that the proposition is preposterous; that 
such perfidy would not be tolerated; and that not only 15 
the United States would declare war, but that continental 
Europe would combine to blot from the map of nations 
a people so perfidious. Why, senators, the story is but 
half told. What would you say if, after this treaty was 
entered into between these high contracting parties, the 20 
British Parliament, with the consent of the Queen, were 
to pass a law to provide that every British judge, that 
every member of Parliament, that every executive officer, 
from constable up to the Queen, should swear solemnly 
upon the revelation of God that they would carry this 25 
treaty into effect, and that when the ink was hardly dry 
upon the parchment which had rendered this oath neces- 
sary, and when all these various officers, legislative, execu- 
tive, and judicial, had sworn that they would carry that 
treaty into effect, the British Parliament were to pass an 30 
act prohibiting every officer and every citizen from execut- 



238 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

ing that particular clause of the treaty ? Here is perjury- 
added to perfidy; and I say to you that, by the Con- 
stitution of the United States, no man can sit in any 
legislature unless he swears to obey that Constitution; 
5 and that every Black Republican legislator who has voted 
for one of those laws passed for the purpose of defeating 
the execution of that treaty has sworn before God that 
he will obey this Constitution ; and that in open violation 
of his oath he has passed a law punishing with fine and 

10 imprisonment any man who shall observe his oath. Is 
this not true? You dare not deny it. And when States 
confederated with your States complain of this perfidy 
and perjury, they are told that if they do not silently 
and patiently "with bated breath and whispering humble- 

isness" submit, your eighteen million free white men will 
come down there and reduce them to the condition of 
conquered provinces ; that their own army and their own 
navy and their own treasury shall be used for their sub- 
jugation. 

20 When some of these States that are not robbed choose 
not to submit longer to be confederated with States that 
are faithless, they are answered by saying, "Why do not 
you wait till the States that are robbed shall resist ? " 
"Why, sir, if I and a friend happen to be passing along 

25 Pennsylvania Avenue, and both are slapped in the face, 
and in addition to the indignity, the purse of my friend 
is also taken from him, does his submission devolve upon 
me any duty also to submit? Because robbery has not 
been added to insult and perjury and perfidy, South 

30 Carolina and Georgia and Florida and Alabama and 
Mississippi and Texas and Arkansas are not to complain ! 






LOUIS TREZEVANT WIGFALL 239 

This sort of logic we do not understand in that section 
of the country. Our misapprehension, doubtless, is the 
result of the "barbarism of slavery." In that country 
there are men who, even in this utilitarian age, are not 
dead to all sentiment; who defend with the hazard of 5 
their lives and with their blood their personal honor ; and 
will be as ready to defend the honor of their States as 
they are their individual respectability. It is the declara- 
tion of divine justice that he who sheds man's blood shall 
have his blood shed by man ; and I say that he who 10 
taints the blood more kills than he who sheds it. That 
proud State that I am speaking of — and I speak of her 
because she has no representative upon this floor, and 
because she is about to act, and because there has been 
an effort to isolate her from her sisters — has not hereto- 15 
fore, and will not hereafter, show any insensibility to that 
which touches her honor. Her citizens are few; they 
may be conquered; there may be none left to tell the 
story of their disaster. It does not follow, senators, that 
because a people are weak, they are going to submit to 20 
tyranny. 

History tells us of the king of Lacedaemon and his 
three hundred who died at Thermopylae. There was an 
oath in Sparta as there is an oath in South Carolina. 
The people of South Carolina have sworn to maintain 25 
the independence and the freedom of their State. It is 
the law of that State. When Leonidas and his gallant 
three hundred fell, history tells us — I know not whether 
the inscription is still to be seen — that upon the 
stone which covered that gallant dead were inscribed 3° 
these words, "Stranger, tell the Lacedaemonians that we 



240 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

lie here in obedience to their laws." In my own State 
there is an inscription not less touching. Upon the blood- 
stained stones of the Alamo there is now to be seen 
written these words: "Thermopylae had her messengers 
5 of death ; the Alamo had none." Those who have no 
sentiment; those who laugh at it; those who regard a 
sense of honor as one of the relics of barbarism and 
the incident of the institution of slavery, I know do 
not understand, or comprehend, or appreciate the feelings 

10 which influence the people of the slaveholding States. 

Thank God, there are also in the other section a gallant 
few — that old, glorious Constitution-loving Democratic 
party, from some of whom we have, upon issues which we 
regarded material, differed of late. I trust in God, sir, 

15 that the hatchet will be buried between us in this great 
struggle that is coming on for constitutional liberty under 
the question as to whether one of the sovereign States of 
this Union shall be coerced or not. I remember how 
gallantly our flag, with the Constitution emblazoned upon 

20 it, was borne by Vallandigham and Richardson and 
Logan and Cox and McClernand and others of that old 
guard; and though last, not least, my friend from Ohio 
[Mr. Pugh], a patriot and a soldier. When his country 
called upon him he answered promptly to the call, and in 

25 the bloody fields of Mexico showed that he had not lost 
either patriotism or the sense of personal or national 
honor. They, I trust, will bring to the altar of the Con- 
stitution their feelings of alienation, and, sacrificing them, 
stand by the Constitution. If we cannot save this Union 

30 as it was originally formed by these States, let it be dis- 
solved rather than see a military despotism erected upon 



LOUIS TREZEVANT W IGF ALL 241 

its ruins. There is now an effort making to erect such a 
despotism. The edifice is not yet completed. South 
Carolina, thank God ! has laid her hand upon one of the 
pillars, and she will shake it until it totters first, and then 
topples. She will destroy that edifice, though she perish 5 
amid the ruins. 



ROBERT TOOMBS 

On Propositions to the Committee of Thirteen 

Mr. President and Senators, I obtained the floor last 
Thursday with a view of addressing this body upon the 
various propositions which were submitted to the com- 
mittee of thirteen, of which I was a member. I am in- 
5 different as to this substitution ; but not having seen the 
proposition of the senator from Kentucky, my remarks 
will be confined mainly to the action of the committee of 
thirteen. This, I understand, is somewhat like one of the 
propositions, though not identically that one, to which I 

10 may have occasion to advert in the course of my argument 
on the propositions submitted by the honorable senator 
from Kentucky in the committee of thirteen. 

The success of the Abolitionists and their allies, under 
the name of the Republican party, has produced its logical 

15 results already. They have for long years been sowing 
dragons' teeth, and have finally got a crop of armed men. 
The Union, sir, is dissolved. That is an accomplished 
fact in the path of this discussion that men may as well 
heed. One of your confederates has already, wisely, 

20 bravely, boldly, confronted public danger, and she is 

only ahead of many of her sisters because of her greater 

facility for speedy action. The greater majority of those 

sister States, under like circumstances, consider her cause 

242 



ROBERT TOOMBS 243 

as their cause; and I charge you in their name to-day, 
"Touch not Saguntum. " It is not only their cause; but 
it is a cause which receives the sympathy and will receive 
the support of tens and hundreds of thousands of honest 
patriotic men in the nonslaveholding States, who haves 
hitherto maintained constitutional rights, who respect 
their oaths, abide by compacts, and love justice. And 
while this Congress, this Senate, and this House of Repre- 
sentatives are debating the constitutionality and the expe- 
diency of seceding from the Union, and while the perfidious 10 
authors of this mischief are showering down denunciations 
upon a large portion of the patriotic men of this country, 
those brave men are coolly and calmly voting what you 
call revolution — aye, sir, doing better than that : arming 
to defend it. They appealed to the Constitution, they 15 
appealed to justice, they appealed to fraternity, until the 
Constitution, justice, and fraternity were no longer lis- 
tened to in the legislative halls of their country, and then, 
sir, they prepared for the arbitrament of the sword ; and 
now you see the glittering bayonet, and you hear the tramp 20 
of armed men from your capital to the Rio Grande. It is a 
sight that gladdens the eyes and cheers the heart of other 
millions ready to second them. Inasmuch, sir, as I have 
labored earnestly, honestly, sincerely, with these men to 
avert this necessity so long as I deemed it possible, and 25 
inasmuch as I heartily approve their present conduct of 
resistance, I deem it my duty to state their case to the Sen- 
ate, to the country, and to the civilized world. 

Senators, my countrymen have demanded no new gov- 
ernment ; they have demanded no new Constitution. 30 
Look to their records at home and here from the beginning 



244 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

of this national strife until its consummation in the dis- 
ruption of the Empire, and they have not demanded a 
single thing except that you shall abide by the Constitu- 
tion of the United States ; that constitutional rights shall 
5 be respected, and that justice shall be done. Sirs, they 
have stood by your Constitution ; they have stood by all 
its requirements; they have performed all of its duties 
unselfishly-, uncalculatingly, disinterestedly, until a party 
sprang up in this country which endangered their social 

10 system — a party which they arraign, and which they 
charge before the American people and all mankind, with 
having made proclamation of outlawry against four thou- 
sand millions of their property in the Territories of the 
United States ; with having put them under the ban of the 

15 Empire in all the States in which their institutions exist, 
outside of the protection of Federal laws; with having 
aided and abetted insurrection from within and invasion 
from without, with the view of subverting those institu- 
tions, and desolating their homes and their firesides. For 

20 these causes they have taken up arms. I shall proceed to 
vindicate the justice of their demands, the patriotism of 
their conduct. I will show the injustice which they suffer 
and the rightfulness of their resistance. 

I have stated that the discontented States of this 

25 Union have demanded nothing but clear, distinct, une- 
quivocal, well-acknowledged constitutional rights; rights 
affirmed by the highest judicial tribunals of their country ; 
rights older than the Constitution ; rights which are planted 
upon the immutable principles of natural justice; rights 

30 which have been affirmed by the good and the wise of all 
countries, and of all centuries. We demand no power to 



ROBERT TOOMBS 245 

injure any man, We demand no right to injure our Con- 
federate States. We demand no right to interfere with 
their institutions, either by word or deed. We have no 
right to disturb their peace, their tranquillity, their 
security. We have demanded of them simply, solely — 5 
nothing else — to give us equality, security, and tran- 
quillity. Give us these, and peace restores itself. Refuse 
them, and take what you can get. 

I will now read my own demands, acting under my own 
convictions, and the universal judgment of my country- 10 
men. They are considered the demands of an extremist. 
To hold to a constitutional right now makes one considered 
an extremist — I believe that is the appellation these 
traitors and villains, North and South, employ. I accept 
their reproach rather than their principles. Accepting 15 
their designation of treason and rebellion, there stands 
before them as good a traitor, and as good a rebel, as ever 
descended from Revolutionary loins. 

What do these rebels demand? First, "that the people 
of the United States shall have an equal right to emigrate 29 
and settle in the present, or any future acquired Territories, 
with whatever property they may possess (including 
slaves), and be securely protected in its peaceable enjoy- 
ment until such Territory may be admitted as a State into 
the Union, with or without slavery, as she may deter- 25 
mine, on an equality with all existing States." That is 
our territorial demand. We have fought for this Territory 
when blood was its price. We have paid for it when gold 
was its price. We have not proposed to exclude you, 
though you have contributed very little of either blood or 3° 
money. I refer especially to New England. We demand 



246 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

only to go into those Territories upon terms of equality 
with you, as equals in this great Confederacy, to enjoy the 
common property of the whole Union, and receive the pro- 
tection of the common government, until the Territory is 
5 capable of coming into the Union as a sovereign State, 
when it may fix its own institutions to suit itself. 

The second proposition is: "that property in slaves 
shall be entitled to the same protection from the govern- 
ment of the United States, in all of its departments, every- 

10 where, which the Constitution confers the power upon it to 
extend to any other property, provided nothing herein 
contained shall be construed to limit or restrain the right 
now belonging to every State to prohibit, abolish, or estab- 
lish and protect slavery within its limits." We demand 

15 of the common government to use its granted powers to 
protect our property as well as yours. For this protection 
we pay as much as you do. This very property is subject 
to taxation. It has been taxed by you, and sold by you 
for taxes. The title to thousands and tens of thousands 

20 of slaves is derived from the United States. We claim 
that the government, while the Constitution recognizes 
our property for purposes of taxation, shall give it the same 
protection that it gives yours. Ought it not to do so? 
You say no. Every one of you upon the committee said 

25 no. Your senators say no. Your House of Representa- 
tives says no. Throughout the length and breadth of 
your conspiracy against the Constitution, there is but one 
shout of no ! This recognition of this right is the price of 
my allegiance. Withhold it, and you do not get my obe- 

30 dience. This is the philosophy of the armed men who have 
sprung up in this country. Do you ask me to support a 



ROBERT TOOMBS 247 

government that will tax my property ; that will plunder 
me ; that will demand my blood, and will not protect me ? 
I would rather see the population of my own native State 
laid six feet beneath her sod than that they should support 
for one hour such a government. Protection is the price 5 
of obedience everywhere, in all countries. It is the only 
thing that makes government respectable. Deny it, and 
you cannot have free subjects or citizens; you may have 
slaves. 

We demand, in the next place, "that persons commit- 10 
ting crimes against slave property in one State, and fleeing 
to another, shall be delivered up in the same manner as 
persons committing crimes against other property, and 
that the laws of the State from which such persons flee 
shall be the test of criminality." That is another one of 15 
the demands of an extremist and rebel. The Constitution 
of the United States, article four, section two, says : — 

"A person charged in any State with treason, felony, or other 
crime, who shall flee from justice, and be found in another State, 
shall, on demand of the executive authority of the State from 20 
which he fled, be delivered up to be removed to the State having 
jurisdiction of the crime." 

But the nonslaveholding States, treacherous to their 
oaths and compacts, have steadily refused, if the criminal 
only stole a negro, and that negro was a slave, to deliver 25 
him up. It was refused twice on the requisition of my 
own State as long as twenty-two years ago. It was re- 
fused by Kent and by Fairfield, governors of Maine, and 
representing, I believe, each of the then Federal parties. 
We appealed then to fraternity, but we submitted; and 3° 



248 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

this constitutional right has been, practically, a dead letter 
from that day to this. 

The next case came up between us and the State of New 
York, when the present senior senator [Mr. Seward] was 
S the governor of that State; and he refused it. Why? 
He said it was not against the laws of New York to steal a 
negro, and therefore he would not comply with the demand. 
He made a similar refusal to Virginia. Yet these are our 
confederates ; these are our sister States ! There is the 

10 bargain ; there is the compact. You have sworn to it. 
Both these governors swore to it. The senator from New 
York swore to it. The governor of Ohio swore to it when 
he was inaugurated. You cannot bind them by oaths. 
Yet they talk to us of treason ; and I suppose they expect 

15 to whip freemen into loving such brethren! They will 
have a good time in doing it ! It is natural we should 
want this provision of the Constitution carried out. The 
Constitution says slaves are property; the Supreme 
Court says so; the Constitution says so. The theft of 

20 slaves is a crime; they are a subject-matter of felonious 
asportation. By the text and letter of the Constitution 
you agreed to give them up. You have sworn to do it, 
and you have broken your oaths. Of course, those who 
have done so look out for pretexts. Nobody expected 

25 them to do otherwise. I do not think I ever saw a perjurer, 
however bald and naked, who could not invent some 
pretexts to palliate his crime, or who could not, for fifteen 
shillings, hire an Old Bailey lawyer to invent some for 
him. Yet this requirement of the Constitution is another 

30 one of the extreme demands of an extremist and a rebel. 
The next stipulation is that fugitive slaves shall be 



ROBERT TOOMBS 249 

surrendered under the provisions of the Fugitive Slave 
act of 1850, without being entitled either to a writ of 
habeas corpus or trial by jury, or other similar obstructions 
of legislation, in the State to which he may flee. Here is 
the Constitution : — 5 

"No person held to service or labor in one State, under the 
laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of any 
law or regulation therein, be discharged from such service or 
labor, but shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom 
such service or labor may be due." io 

This language is plain, and everybody understood it 
the same way for the first forty years of your government. 
In 1793, in Washington's time, an act was passed to carry 
out this provision. It was adopted unanimously in the 
Senate of the United States, and nearly so in the House of 15 
Representatives. Nobody then had invented pretexts 
to show that the Constitution did not mean a negro slave. 
It was clear ; it was plain. Not only the Federal courts, 
but all the local courts in all the States, decide that this 
was a constitutional obligation. How is it now? The 20 
North sought to evade it ; following the instincts of their 
national character, they commenced with the fraudulent 
fiction that fugitives were entitled to habeas corpus, en- 
titled to trial by jury in the State to which they fled. They 
pretended to believe that fugitive slaves were entitled to 25 
more rights than their white citizens ; perhaps they were 
right, — they know one another better than I do. You may 
charge a white man with treason, or felony, or other crime, 
and you do not require any trial by jury before he is given 
up; there is nothing to determine but that he is legally 30 
charged with a crime and that he fled, and then he is to be 



250 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

delivered up upon demand. White people are delivered 
up every day in this way ; but not slaves. Slaves, black 
people, you say, are entitled to trial by jury; and in this 
way schemes have been invented to defeat your plain 
5 constitutional obligations. 

Senators, the Constitution is a compact. It contains 
all our obligations and duties of the Federal government. 
I am content, and have ever been content, to sustain it. 
While I doubt its perfection ; while I do not believe it was 

10 a good compact ; and while I never saw the day that I 
would have voted for it as a proposition de novo, yet I am 
bound to it by oath and by that common prudence which 
would induce men to abide by established forms, rather 
than to rush into unknown dangers. I have given to it, 

15 and intend to give to it, unfaltering support and allegiance ; 
but I choose to put that allegiance on the true ground, 
not on the false idea that anybody's blood was shed for it. 
I say that the Constitution is the whole compact. All the 
obligations, all the chains that fetter the limbs of my 

20 people, are nominated in the bond, and they wisely ex- 
cluded any conclusion against them, by declaring that the 
powers not granted by the Constitution to the United 
States, or forbidden by it to the States, belonged to the 
States respectively or the people. Now I will try it by 

25 that standard ; I will subject it to that test. The law of 
nature, the law of justice, would say — and it is so ex- 
pounded by the publicists — that equal rights in the com- 
mon property shall be enjoyed. Even in a monarchy the 
king cannot prevent the subjects from enjoying equality 

30 in the disposition of the public property. Even in a des- 
potic government this principle is recognized. It was the 



ROBERT TOOMBS 251 

blood and the money of the whole people (says the learned 
Grotius, and say all the publicists) which acquired the pub- 
lic property, and therefore it is not the property of the 
sovereign. This right of equality being, then, according 
to justice and natural equity, a right belonging to all 5 
States, when did we give it up ? You say Congress has a 
right to pass rules and regulations concerning the Terri- 
tory and other property of the United States. Very well. 
Does that exclude those whose blood and money paid 
for it? Does "dispose of" mean to rob the rightful 10 
owners? You must show a better title than that, or a 
better sword than we have. 

But, you say, try the right. I agree to it. But how? 
By our judgment? No, not until the last resort. What 
then; by yours? No, not until the same time. How 15 
then try it ? The South has always said, by the Supreme 
Court. But that is in our favor, and Lincoln says he will 
not stand that judgment. Then each must judge for 
himself of the mode and manner of redress. But you 
deny us that privilege, and finally reduce us to accepting 20 
your judgment. We decline it. You say you will enforce 
it by executing laws ; that means your judgment of what 
the laws ought to be. Perhaps you will have a good time 
of executing your judgment. The senator from Kentucky 
comes to your aid, and says he can find no constitutional 25 
right of secession. Perhaps not; but the Constitution is 
not the place to look for State rights. If that right be- 
longs to independent States, and they did not cede it to the 
Federal government, it is reserved to the States, or to the 
people. Ask your new commentator where he gets your 30 
right to judge for us. Is it in the bond ? 



252 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

The Northern doctrine was, many years ago, that the 
Supreme Court was the judge. That was their doctrine 
in 1800. They denounced Madison for the report of 1799, 
on the Virginia Resolutions ; they denounced Jefferson for 
5 framing the Kentucky Resolutions, because they were pre- 
sumed to impugn the decisions of the Supreme Court of 
the United States; and they declared that that court 
was made, by the Constitution, the ultimate and supreme 
arbiter. That was the universal judgment — the declara- 

io tion of every free State in this Union, in answer to the 
Virginia resolutions of 1798, or of all who did answer, even 
including the State of Delaware, then under Federal con- 
trol. 

The Supreme Court have decided that, by the Constitu- 

15 tion, we have a right to go to the Territories and be pro- 
tected there with our property. You say, we cannot de- 
cide the compact for ourselves. Well, can the Supreme 
Court decide it for us ? Mr. Lincoln says he does not care 
what the Supreme Court decides, he will turn us out any- 

20 how. He says this in his debate with the honorable 
senator from Illinois [Mr. Douglas]. I have it before me. 
He said he would vote against the decision of the Supreme 
Court. Then you do not accept that arbiter. You will 
not take my construction ; you will not take the Supreme 

25 Court as an arbiter; you will not take the practice of the 
government ; you will not take the treaties under Jefferson 
and Madison ; you will not take the opinion of Madison upon 
the very question of prohibition in 1820. What, then, will 
you take ? You will take nothing but your own judgment ; 

30 that is, you will not only judge for yourselves, not only 
discard the court, discard our construction, discard the 



ROBERT TOOMBS 253 

practice of the government, but you will drive us out, 
simply because you will it. Come and do it ! You have 
sapped the foundations of society; you have destroyed 
almost all hope of peace. In a compact where there is no 
common arbiter, where the parties finally decide for them- 5 
selves, the sword alone at last becomes the real, if not the 
constitutional, arbiter. Your party says that you will 
not take the decision of the Supreme Court. You said so 
at Chicago ; you said so in committee ; every man of you in 
both Houses says so. What are you going to do ? You 10 
say we shall submit to your construction. We shall do it, 
if you can make us ; but not otherwise, or in any other 
manner. That is settled. You may call it secession, or 
you may call it revolution ; but there is a big fact standing 
before you, ready to oppose you — that fact is, freemen 15 
with arms in their hands. The cry of the Union will not 
disperse them ; we have passed that point ; they demand 
equal rights : you had better heed the demand. 

You will not regard Confederate obligations; you will 
not regard constitutional obligations; you will not re- 20 
gard your oaths. What, then, am I to do? Am I a 
freeman ? Is my State, a free State, to lie down and sub- 
mit because political fossils raise the cry of the glorious 
Union? Too long already have we listened to this delu- 
sive song. We are freemen. We have rights; I have 25 
stated them. We have wrongs ; I have recounted them. 
I have demonstrated that the party now coming into power 
has declared us outlaws, and is determined to exclude 
four thousand million of our property from the common 
Territories ; that it has declared us under the ban of the 30 
Empire, and out of the protection of the laws of the United 



254 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

States everywhere. They have refused to protect us from 
invasion and insurrection by the Federal power, and the 
Constitution denies to us in the Union the right either to 
raise fleets or armies for our own defense. All these 
5 charges I have proven by the record ; and I put them 
before the civilized world, and demand the judgment of 
to-day, of to-morrow, of distant ages, and of Heaven it- 
self, upon the justice of these causes. I am content, 
whatever it be, to peril all in so noble, so holy a cause. We 

10 have appealed, time and time again, for these constitu- 
tional rights. You have refused them. We appeal again. 
Restore us these rights as we had them, as your court ad- 
judges them to be, just as all our people have said they are ; 
redress these flagrant wrongs, seen of all men, and it will 

15 restore fraternity, and peace, and unity, to all of us. Re- 
fuse them, and what then? We shall then ask you, "Let 
us depart in peace." Refuse that, and you present us 
war. We accept it ; and inscribing upon our banners the 
glorious words, "liberty and equality, " we will trust to 

20 the blood of the brave and the God of battles for security 
and tranquillity. 



JEFFERSON DAVIS 

Farewell to the Senate 

I rise, Mr. President, for the purpose of announcing to 
the Senate that I have satisfactory evidence that the State 
of Mississippi, by a solemn ordinance of her people in con- 
vention assembled, has declared her separation from the 
United States. Under these circumstances, of course my s 
functions are terminated here. It has seemed to me 
proper, however, that I should appear in the Senate to 
announce that fact to my associates, and I will say but 
very little more. The occasion does not invite me to go 
into argument ; and my physical condition would not 10 
permit me to do so if it were otherwise ; and yet it seems 
to become me to say something on the part of the State I 
here represent, on an occasion so solemn as this. 

It is known to senators who have served with me here, 
that I have for many years advocated, as an essential 15 
attribute of State sovereignty, the right of a State to secede 
from the Union. Therefore, if I had not believed there 
was justifiable cause ; if I had thought that Mississippi was 
acting without sufficient provocation, or without an exist- 
ing necessity, I should still, under my theory of the gov- 20 
ernment, because of my allegiance to the State of which I 
am a citizen, have been bound by her action. I, however, 

255 



256 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

may be permitted to say that I do think she has justifiable 
cause, and I approve of her act. I conferred with her 
people before that act was taken, counseled them then that 
if the state of things which they apprehended should exist 
5 when the convention met, they should take the action 
which they have now adopted. 

I hope none who hear me will confound this expression 
of mine with the advocacy of the right of a State to remain 
in the Union, and to disregard its constitutional obliga- 

10 tions by the nullification of the law. Such is not my 
theory. Nullification and secession, so often confounded, 
are indeed antagonistic principles. Nullification is a 
remedy which it is sought to apply within the Union, and 
against the agent of the States. It is only to be justified 

1 5 when the agent has violated his constitutional obligation, 
and a State, assuming to judge for itself, denies the right 
of the agent thus to act, and appeals to the other States 
of the Union for a decision ; but when the States them- 
selves, and when the people of the States, have so acted 

20 as to convince us that they will not regard our constitu- 
tional rights, then, and then for the first time, arises the 
doctrine of secession in its practical application. 

A great man who now reposes with his fathers, and who 
has been often arraigned for a want of fealty to the Union, 

25 advocated the doctrine of nullification, because it pre- 
served the Union. It was because of his deep-seated 
attachment to the Union, his determination to find some 
remedy for existing ills short of a severance of the ties 
which bound South Carolina to the other States, that 

30 Mr. Calhoun advocated the doctrine of nullification, which 
he proclaimed to be peaceful, to be within the limits of 



JEFFERSON DAVIS 257 

State power, not to disturb the Union, but only to be a 
means of bringing the agent before the tribunal of the 
States for their judgment. 

Secession belongs to a different class of remedies. It is 
to be justified upon the basis that the States are sovereign. 5 
There was a time when none denied it. I hope the time 
may come again, when a better comprehension of the 
theory of our government, and the inalienable rights of 
the people of the States, will prevent any one from denying 
that each State is a sovereign, and thus may reclaim the 10 
grants which it has made to any agent whomsoever. 

I therefore say I concur in the action of the people of 
Mississippi, believing it to be necessary and proper, and 
should have been bound by their action if my belief had 
been otherwise ; and this brings me to the important point 15 
which I wish on this last occasion to present to the Senate. 
It is by this confounding of nullification and secession 
that the name of a great man, whose ashes now mingle 
with his mother earth, has been invoked to justify coer- 
cion against a seceded State. The phrase "to execute 20 
the laws/' was an expression which General Jackson 
applied to the case of a State refusing to obey the laws 
while yet a member of the Union. That is not the case 
which is now presented. The laws are to be executed 
over the United States, and upon the people of the United 25 
States. They have no relation to any foreign country. 
It is a perversion of terms, at least it is a great misappre- 
hension of the case, which cites that expression for appli- 
cation to a State which has withdrawn from the Union. 
You may make war on a foreign State. If it be the pur- 30 
pose of gentlemen, they may make war against a State 



258 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

which has withdrawn from the Union ; but there are no 
laws of the United States to be executed within the limits 
of a seceded State. A State finding herself in the condition 
in which Mississippi has judged she is, in which her safety 
5 requires that she should provide for the maintenance of 
her rights out of the Union, surrenders all the benefits 
(and they are known to be many), deprives herself of the 
advantages (they are known to be great), severs all the 
ties of affection (and they are close and enduring), which 

10 have bound her to the Union; and thus divesting herself 
of every benefit, taking upon herself every burden, she 
claims to be exempt from any power to execute the laws 
of the United States within her limits. 

I well remember an occasion when Massachusetts was 

1 5 arraigned before the bar of the Senate, and when then the 
doctrine of coercion was rife and to be applied against her 
because of the rescue of a fugitive slave in Boston. My 
opinion then was the same that it is now. Not in a spirit 
of egotism, but to show that I am not influenced in my 

20 opinion because the case is my own, I refer to that time 
and that occasion as containing the opinion which I then 
entertained, and on which my present conduct is based. 
I then said, if Massachusetts, following her through a 
stated line of conduct, chooses to take the last step which 

25 separates her from the Union, it is her right to go, and I 
will neither vote one dollar nor one man to coerce her back ; 
but will say to her, Godspeed, in memory of the kind asso- 
ciations which once existed between her and the other 
States. 

3° It has been a conviction of pressing necessity, it has been 
a belief that we are to be deprived in the Union of the 






JEFFERSON DAVIS 259 

rights which our fathers bequeathed to us, which has 
brought Mississippi into her present decision. She has 
heard proclaimed the theory that all men are created free 
and equal, and this made the basis of an attack upon her 
social institutions; and the sacred Declaration of Inde-5 
pendence has been invoked to maintain the position of the 
equality of the races. That Declaration of Independence 
is to be construed by the circumstances and purposes for 
which it was made. The communities were declaring 
their independence ; the people of those communities were 10 
asserting that no man was born — to use the language of 
Mr. Jefferson — booted and spurred to ride over the rest 
of mankind ; that men were created equal — meaning the 
men of the political community ; that there was no divine 
right to rule; that no man inherited the right to govern; 15 
that there were no classes by which power and place de- 
scended to families, but that all stations were equally 
within the grasp of each member of the body politic. 
These were the great principles they announced; these 
were the purposes for which they made their declaration ; 20 
these were the ends to which their enunciation was di- 
rected. They have no reference to the slave; else, how 
happened it that among the items of arraignment made 
against George III was that he endeavored to do just what 
the North has been endeavoring of late to do — to stir 25 
up insurrection among our slaves ? Had the Declaration 
announced that the negroes were free and equal, how was 
the Prince to be arraigned for stirring up insurrection 
among them ? And how was this to be enumerated among 
the high crimes which caused the colonies to sever their 3° 
connection with the mother country ? When our Consti- 



260 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

tution was formed, the same idea was rendered more 
palpable, for there we find provision made for that very- 
class of persons as property ; they were not put upon the 
footing of equality with white men — not even upon that 
5 of paupers and convicts ; but, so far as representation was 
concerned, were discriminated against as a lower caste, 
only to be represented in the numerical proportion of 
three fifths. 

Then, Senators, we recur to the compact which binds us 

10 together ; we recur to the principles upon which our gov- 
ernment was founded ; and when you deny them, and when 
you deny to us the right to withdraw from a government 
which thus perverted threatens to be destructive of our 
rights, we but tread in the path of our fathers when we 

15 proclaim our independence, and take the hazard. This is 
done not in hostility to others, not to injure any section 
of the country, not even for our own pecuniary benefit; 
but from the high and solemn motive of defending and pro- 
tecting the rights we inherited, and which it is our sacred 

20 duty to transmit unshorn to our children. 

I find in myself, perhaps, a type of the general feeling 
of my constituents towards yours. I am sure I feel no 
hostility to you, Senators from the North. I am sure 
there is not one of you, whatever sharp discussion there 

2% may have been between us, to whom I cannot now say, 
in the presence of my God, I wish you well ; and such, I am 
sure, is the feeling of the people whom I represent towards 
those whom you represent. I therefore feel that I but 
express their desire when I say I hope, and they hope, for 

3° peaceful relations with you, though we must part. They 
may be mutually beneficial to us in the future, as they have 



JEFFERSON DAVIS 261 

been in the past, if you so will it. The reverse may bring 
disaster on every portion of the country ; and if you will 
have it thus, we will invoke the God of our fathers, who 
delivered them from the power of the lion, to protect us 
from the ravages of the bear; and thus, putting ours 
trust in God, and in our own firm hearts and strong arms, 
we will vindicate the right as best we may. 

In the course of my service here, associated at different 
times with a great variety of senators, I see now around 
me some with whom I have served long ; there have been ic 
points of collision ; but whatever of offense there has been 
to me, I leave here; I carry with me no hostile remem- 
brance. Whatever offense I have given which has not 
been redressed, 'or for which satisfaction has not been de- 
manded, I have, Senators, in this hour of our parting, to 15 
offer you my apology for any pain which, in heat of dis- 
cussion, I have inflicted. I go hence unincumbered of 
the remembrance of any injury received, and having dis- 
charged the duty of making the only reparation in my 
power for any injury offered. 20 

Mr. President, and Senators, having made the announce- 
ment which the occasion seemed to me to require, it only 
remains for me to bid you a final adieu. 



JUDAH P. BENJAMIN 

Farewell to the Senate 






Mr. Benjamin. Mr. President, if we were engaged 
in the performance of our accustomed legislative duties, 
I might well rest content with the simple statement of 
my concurrence in the remarks just made by my colleague. 
5 Deeply impressed, however, with the solemnity of the 
occasion, I cannot remain insensible to the duty of re- 
cording, amongst the authentic reports of your proceed- 
ings, the expression of my conviction that the State of 
Louisiana has judged and acted well and wisely in this 

10 crisis of her destiny. 

Sir, it has been urged, on more than one occasion, in 
the discussions here and elsewhere, that Louisiana stands 
on an exceptional footing. It has been said that what- 
ever may be the rights of the States that were original 

15 parties to the Constitution ■ — even granting their right 
to resume, for sufficient cause, those restricted powers 
which they delegated to the general government in trust 
for their own use and benefit — still Louisiana can have 
no such right, because she was acquired by purchase. 

20 Gentlemen have not hesitated to speak 'of the sovereign 

States formed out of the territory ceded by France as 

property bought with the money of the United States, 

belonging to them as purchasers; and, although, they 

262 



JUDAH P. BENJAMIN 263 

have not carried their doctrine to its legitimate results, 
I must conclude that they also mean to assert, on the 
same principle, the right of selling for a price that which 
for a price was bought. 

I shall not pause to comment on this repulsive dogmas 
of a party which asserts the right of property in free- 
born white men, in order to reach its cherished object 
of destroying the right of property in slave-born black 
men — still less shall I detain the Senate in pointing out 
how shadowy the distinction between the condition ofio 
the servile African and that to which the white freemen 
of my State would be reduced, if it indeed be true that 
they are bound to this government by ties that cannot 
be legitimately dissevered, without the consent of that 
very majority which wields its powers for their oppres- 15 
sion. I simply deny the fact on which the argument 
is founded. I deny that the province of Louisiana, or 
the people of Louisiana, were ever conveyed to the United 
States for a price as property that could be bought or 
sold at will. Without entering into the details of the 20 
negotiation, the archives of our State department show 
the fact to be, that although the domain, the public 
lands, and other property of France in the ceded province, 
were conveyed by absolute title to the United States, 
the sovereignty was not conveyed, otherwise than in trust. 25 

A hundred fold, sir, has the government of the United 
States been reimbursed by the sales of public property, 
of public lands, for the price of the acquisition ; but not 
with the fidelity of the honest trustee has it discharged 
the obligations as regards the sovereignty. 3° 

I have said that the government assumed to act as 



264 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

trustee or guardian of the people of the ceded province, 
and covenanted to transfer to them the sovereignty 
thus held in trust for their use and benefit, as soon as 
they were capable of exercising it. What is the express 
5 language of the treaty ? 

"The inhabitants of the ceded Territory shall be incorporated 
in the Union of the United States, and admitted as soon as pos- 
sible, according to the principles of the Federal Constitution, to 
the enjoyment of all the rights, advantages, and immunities of 
10 citizens of the United States; and in the meantime they shall 
be maintained and protected in the enjoyment of their liberty, 
property, and the religion which they profess." 

And, sir, as if to mark the true nature of the cession 
in a manner too significant to admit of misconstruction, 

15 the treaty stipulates no price ; and the sole consideration 
for the convej^ance, as stated on its face, is the desire to 
afford a strong proof of the friendship of France for the 
United States. By the terms of a separate convention 
stipulating the payment of a sum of money, the precau- 

20 tion is again observed of stating that the payment is 
to be made, not as a consideration or a price or a condition 
precedent of the cession, but it is carefully distinguished 
as being a consequence of the cession. It was by words 
thus studiously chosen, sir, that James Monroe and Thomas 

25 Jefferson marked their understanding of a contract now 
misconstrued as being a bargain and sale of sovereignty 
over freemen. With what indignant scorn would those 
stanch advocates of the inherent right of self-government 
have repudiated the slavish doctrine now deduced from 

30 their action ! 



JUDAH P. BENJAMIN 265 

How were the obligations of this treaty fulfilled? 
That Louisiana at that date contained slaves held as 
property by her people through the whole length of the 
Mississippi Valley — that those people had an unrestricted 
right of settlement with their slaves under legal protection 5 
throughout the entire ceded province — no man has ever 
yet had the hardihood to deny. Here is a treaty promise 
to protect that property, that slave property, in that Terri- 
tory, before it should become a State. That this promise 
was openly violated, in the adjustment forced upon the 10 
South at the time of the admission of Missouri, is a matter 
of recorded history. The perspicuous and unanswerable 
exposition of Mr. Justice Catron, in the opinion delivered 
by him in the Dred Scott case, will remain through all 
time as an ample vindication of this assertion. 15 

If, then, sir, the people of Louisiana had a right, which 
Congress could not deny, of the admission into the Union 
with all the rights of all the citizens of the United States, 
it is in vain that the partisans of the right of the majority 
to govern the minority with despotic control, attempt 20 
to establish a distinction, to her prejudice, between her 
rights and those of any other State. The only distinction 
which really exists is this : that she can point to a breach 
of treaty stipulations expressly guaranteeing her rights, 
as a wrong superadded to those which have impelled a 25 
number of her sister States to the assertion of their in- 
dependence. 

The rights of Louisiana as a sovereign State are those 
of Virginia; no more, no less. Let those who deny her 
right to resume delegated powers, successfully refute 30 
the claim of Virginia to the same right, in spite of her 



266 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

express reservation made and notified to her sister States 
when she consented to enter the Union. And, sir, permit 
me to say that, of all the causes which justify the action 
of the Southern States, I know none of greater gravity 
5 and more alarming magnitude than that now developed 
of the denial of the right of secession. A pretension so 
monstrous as that which perverts a restricted agency, 
constituted by sovereign States for common purposes, 
into the unlimited despotism of the majority, and denies 

10 all legitimate escape from such despotism, when powers 
not delegated are usurped, converts the whole constitu- 
tional fabric into the secure abode of lawless tyranny, 
and degrades sovereign States into provincial dependen- 
cies. 

15 It is said that the right of secession, if conceded, makes 
of our government a mere rope of sand; that to assert 
its existence imputes to the framers of the Constitution 
the folly of planting the seeds of death in that which was 
designed for perpetual existence. If this imputation 

20 were true, sir, it would merely prove that their offspring 
was not exempt from that mortality which is the common 
lot of all that is not created by higher than human power. 
But it is not so, sir. Let facts answer theory. For two 
thirds of a century this right has been known by many 

25 of the States to be, at all times, within their power. Yet, 
up to the present period, when its exercise has become 
indispensable to a people menaced with absolute exter- 
mination, there have been but two instances in which 
it has been even threatened seriously: the first, when 

30 Massachusetts led the New England States in an attempt 
to escape from the dangers of our last war with Great 



JUDAH P. BENJAMIN 267 

Britain; the second, when the same State proposed to 
secede on account of the admission of Texas as a new State 
into the Union. 

Sir, in the language of our declaration of secession from 
Great Britain it is stated, as an established truth, that 5 
"all experience has shown that mankind are more dis- 
posed to suffer while evils are sufferable, than to right 
themselves by abolishing the forms to which they have 
been accustomed." And nothing can be more obvious 
to the calm and candid observer of passing events than 10 
that the disruption of the Confederacy has been due, in 
great measure, not to the existence, but to the denial, 
of this right. Few candid men would refuse to admit 
that the Republicans of the North would have been 
checked in their mad career, had they been convinced 15 
of the existence of this right, and the intention to assert 
it. The very knowledge of its existence, by preventing 
occurrences which alone could prompt its exercise, would 
have rendered it a most efficient instrument in the pres- 
ervation of the Union. But, sir, if the fact were other- 20 
wise — if all the teachings of experience were reversed — 
better, far better, a rope of sand, aye, the flimsiest gossamer 
that ever glistened in the morning dew, than chains of 
iron and shackles of steel; better the wildest anarchy, 
with the hope, the chance, of one hour's inspiration of 25 
the glorious breath of freedom, than ages of the hopeless 
bondage and oppression to which our enemies would 
reduce us. 

We are told that the laws must be enforced ; that the 
revenues must be collected ; that the South is in rebellion 30 
without cause, and that her citizens are traitors. 



268 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

Rebellion ! The very word is a confession ; an avowal 
of tyranny, outrage, and oppression. It is taken from 
the despot's code, and has no terror for other than slavish 
souls. When, sir, did millions of people, as a single man, 
5 rise in organized, deliberate, unimpassioned rebellion 
against justice, truth, and honor? Well did a great 
Englishman exclaim on a similar occasion: — 

"You might as well tell me that they rebelled against the light 
of heaven; that they rejected the fruits of the earth. Men do 

10 not war against their benefactors; they are not mad enough to 
repel the instincts of self-preservation. I pronounce fearlessly 
that no intelligent people ever rose, or ever will rise, against a 
sincere, rational, and benevolent authority. No people were ever 
born blind. Infatuation is not a law of human nature. When 

15 there is a revolt by a free people, with the common consent of all 
classes of society, there must be a criminal against whom that 
revolt is aimed." 

Traitors ! Treason ! Aye, sir, the people of the South 
imitate and glory in just such treason as glowed in the soul 

20 of Hampden ; just such treason as leaped in living flame 
from the impassioned lips of Henry ; just such treason 
as encircles with a sacred halo the undying name of 
Washington ! 

You will enforce the laws. You want to know if we 

25 have a government; if you have any authority to collect 
revenue; to wring tribute from an unwilling people? 
Sir, humanity desponds, and all the inspiring hopes of 
her progressive improvement vanish into empty air at 
the reflections which crowd on the mind at hearing re- 

30 peated, with aggravated enormity, the sentiments against 
which a Chatham launched his indignant thunders 



JUDAH P. BENJAMIN 269 

nearly a century ago. The very words of Lord North 
and his royal master are repeated here in debate, not 
as quotations, but as the spontaneous outpourings of 
a spirit the counterpart of theirs. 

In Lord North's speech, on the destruction of the teas 
in Boston harbor, he said: — 

"We are no longer to dispute between legislation and taxa- 
tion; we are now only to consider whether or not we have any au- 
thority there. It is very clear we have none, if we suffer the 
property of our subjects to be destroyed. We must punish, con- 10 
trol, or yield to them." 

And thereupon he proposed to close the port of Boston, 
just as the representatives of Massachusetts now propose 
to close the port of Charleston, in order to determine 
whether or not you have any authority there. It is thus is 
that, in 1861, Boston is to pay her debt of gratitude to 
Charleston, which, in the days of her struggle, proclaimed 
the generous sentiment that "the cause of Boston was the 
cause of Charleston." Who, after this, will say that 
republics are ungrateful? Well, sir, the statesmen of 20 
Great Britain answered to Lord North's appeal, "yield." 
The courtiers and the politicians said, "punish/' "con- 
trol." The result is known. History gives you the 
lesson. Profit by its teachings. 

So, sir, in the address sent under the royal sign-manual 25 
to Parliament, it was invoked to take measures "for 
better securing the execution of the laws," and acquiesced 
in the suggestion. Just as now, a senile Executive, un- 
der the sinister influence of insane counsels, is proposing, 
with your assent, " to secure the better execution of the 30 



270 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

laws/' by blockading ports and turning upon the people 
of the States the artillery which they provided at their own 
expense for their own defense, and intrusted to you and 
to him for that and for no other purpose. Nay, even in 
-) States that are now exercising the undoubted and most 
precious rights of a free people : where there is no seces- 
sion ; where the citizens are assembling to hold peaceful 
elections for considering what course of action is de- 
manded in this dread crisis by a due regard for their 

10 own safety and their own liberty ; aye, even in Virginia 
herself, the people are to cast their suffrages beneath the 
undisguised menaces of a frowning fortress. Cannon 
are brought to bear on their homes, and parricidal hands 
are preparing weapons for rending the bosom of the 

15 mother of Washington. 

Sir, when Great Britain proposed to exact tribute from 
your fathers against their will, Lord Chatham said : — 

"Whatever is a man's own is absolutely his own; no man 
has a right to take it from him without his consent. Whoever 
20 attempts to do it, attenrpts an injury. Whoever does it, commits 
a robbery. You have no right to tax America. I rejoice that 
America has resisted." . . . "Let the sovereign authority of 
this country over the colonies be asserted in as strong terms 
as can be devised, and be made to extend to every point of legis- 
ts lation whatever, so that we may bind their trade, confine their 
manufactures, and exercise every power, except that of taking 
money out of their own pockets without their consent." 

It was reserved for the latter half of the nineteenth 

century, and for the Congress of a republic of freemen, 

30 to witness the willing abnegation of all power, save that 

of exacting tribute. What imperial Britain, with the 



JUDAH P. BENJAMIN 271 

haughtiest pretensions of unlimited power over dependent 
colonies, could not even attempt without the vehement 
protest of her greatest statesmen, is to be enforced in 
aggravated form, if you can enforce it, against independ- 
ent States. 5 

Good God ! sir, since when has the necessity arisen of 
recalling to American legislators the lessons of freedom 
taught in lisping childhood by loving mothers; that 
pervade the atmosphere we have breathed from infancy; 
that so form part of our very being, that in their absence 10 
we would lose the consciousness of our own identity? 
Heaven be praised that all have not forgotten them; 
that when we shall have left these familiar Halls, and 
when force bills, blockades, armies, navies, and all the 
accustomed coercive appliances of despots shall be pro- 1 5 
posed and advocated, voices shall be heard from this side 
of the Chamber that will make its very roof resound 
with the indignant clamor of outraged freedom. Me- 
thinks I still hear ringing in my ears the appeal of the 
eloquent representative [Hon. George H. Pendleton, 20 
of Ohio] whose Northern home looks down on Kentucky's 
fertile borders: "Armies, money, blood, cannot maintain 
this Union; justice, reason, peace, may." 

And now to you, Mr. President, and to my brother 
senators, on all sides of this Chamber, I bid a respectful 25 
farewell; with many of those from whom I have been 
radically separated in political sentiment, my personal 
relations have been kindly, and have inspired me with 
a respect and esteem that I shall not willingly forget; 
with those around me from the Southern States, I part as 30 
men part from brothers on the eve of a temporary absence, 



272 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

with a cordial pressure of the hand and a smiling assur- 
ance of the speedy renewal of sweet intercourse around 
the family hearth. But to you, noble and generous 
friends, who, born beneath other skies, possess hearts 
5 that beat in sympathy with ours ; to you, who, solicited and 
assailed by motives the most powerful that could appeal to 
selfish natures, have nobly spurned them all ; to you who, 
in our behalf, have bared your breasts to the fierce beat- 
ings of the storm, and made willing sacrifice of life's most 

10 glittering prizes in your devotion to constitutional lib- 
erty ; to you, who have made our cause your cause, and 
from many of whom I feel I part forever, what shall I, 
can I say? Naught, I know and feel, is needed for my- 
self ; but this I will say for the people in whose name I 

15 speak to-day: whether prosperous or adverse fortunes 
await you, one priceless treasure is yours — the assurance 
that an entire people honor your names, and hold them 
in grateful and affectionate memory. But with still 
sweeter and more touching return shall your unselfish 

20 devotion be rewarded. When, in after days, the story 
of the present shall be written ; when history shall have 
passed her stern sentence on the erring men who have 
driven their unoffending brethren from the shelter of 
their common home, your names will derive fresh luster 

25 from the contrast ; and when your children shall hear 
repeated the familiar tale, it will be with glowing cheek 
and kindling eye, their very souls will stand a-tiptoe as 
their sires are named, and they will glory in their lineage 
from men of spirit as generous and of patriotism as high- 

30 hearted as ever illustrated or adorned the American 
Senate. 



L. Q. C. LAMAR 
Eulogy on Charles Sumner 

Mr. Speaker, in rising to second the resolutions just 
offered, I desire to add a few remarks which have occurred 
to me as appropriate to the occasion. I believe that they 
express a sentiment which pervades the hearts of all 
the people whose representatives are here assembled. 5 
Strange as in looking back upon the past the assertion 
may seem, impossible as it would have been ten years 
ago to make it, it is not the less true that to-day Mississippi 
regrets the death of Charles Sumner and sincerely 
unites in paying honors to his memory. Not because 10 
of the splendor of his intellect, though in him was ex- 
tinguished one of the brightest of the lights which have 
illustrated the councils of the government for nearly a 
quarter of a century; not because of the high culture, 
the elegant scholarship, and the varied learning which 15 
revealed themselves so clearly in all his public efforts as 
to justify the application to him of Johnson's felicitous 
expression, "he touched nothing which he did not adorn"; 
not this, though these are qualities by no means, it is 
to be feared, so common in public places as to make their 20 
disappearance, in even a single instance, a matter of in- 
difference; but because of those peculiar and strongly 
marked moral traits of his character which gave the color- 
ing to the whole tenor of his singularly dramatic public 
t 273 



274 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

career ; traits which made him for a long period to a large 
portion of his countrymen the object of as deep and 
passionate a hostility as to another he was one of enthu- 
siastic admiration, and which are not the less the cause 
5 that now unites all these parties, ever so widely differing, 
in a common sorrow to-day over his lifeless remains. 

It is of these high moral qualities which I wish to speak ; 
for these have been the traits which, in after years, as 
I have considered the successive acts and utterances of 

10 this remarkable man, fastened most strongly my atten- 
tion, and impressed themselves most forcibly upon my 
imagination, my sensibilities, my heart. I leave to others 
to speak of his intellectual superiority, of those rare gifts 
with which nature had so lavishly endowed him, and of 

15 the power to use them which he had acquired by educa- 
tion. I say nothing of his vast and varied stores of his- 
torical knowledge, or of the wide extent of his reading 
in the elegant literature of ancient and modern times, 
or of his wonderful power of retaining what he had read, 

20 or of his readiness in drawing upon these fertile resources 
to illustrate his own arguments. I say nothing of his 
eloquence as an orator, of his skill as a logician, or of his 
powers of fascination in the unrestrained freedom of- the 
social circle, which last it was my misfortune not to have 

25 experienced. These, indeed, were the qualities which 
gave him eminence not only in our county, but through- 
out the world ; and which have made the name of Charles. 
Sumner an integral part of our nation's glory. They were 
the qualities which gave to those moral traits of which 

30 1 have spoken the power to impress themselves upon 
the history of the age and of civilization itself ; and with- 



L. Q. C. LAMAR 275 

out which those traits, however intensely developed, 
would have exerted no influence beyond the personal 
circle immediately surrounding their possessor. More 
eloquent tongues than mine will do them justice. Let 
me speak of the characteristics which brought the illus- 5 
trious senator who has just passed away into direct 
and bitter antagonism for years with my own State and 
her sister States of the South. 

Charles Sumner was born with an instinctive love of 
freedom, and was educated from his earliest infancy to IO 
the belief that freedom is the natural and indefeasible 
right of every intelligent being having the outward form 
of man. In him, in fact, this creed seems to have been 
something more than a doctrine imbibed from teachers, 
or a result of education. To him it was a grand intuitive 15 
truth inscribed in blazing letters upon the tablet of his 
inner consciousness, to deny which would have been for 
him to deny that he himself existed. And along with 
this all-controlling love of freedom, he possessed a moral 
sensibility keenly intense and vivid, a conscientiousness 20 
which would never permit him to swerve by the breadth 
of a hair from what he pictured to himself as the path of 
duty. Thus were combined in him the characteristics 
which have in all ages given to religion her martyrs and 
to patriotism her self-sacrificing heroes. 25 

To a man thoroughly permeated and imbued with such 
a creed, and animated and constantly actuated by such 
a spirit of devotion, to behold a human being or a race 
of human beings restrained of their natural rights to 
liberty, for no crime by him or them committed, was 3° 
to feel all the belligerent instincts of his nature roused 



276 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

to combat. The fact was to him a wrong which no logic 
could justify. It mattered not how humble in the scale 
of rational existence the subject of this restraint might 
be, how dark his skin, or how dense his ignorance. Behind 
5 all that lay for him the great principle that liberty is 
the birthright of all humanity, and that every individual 
of every race who has a soul to save is entitled to the 
freedom which may enable him to work out his salvation. 
It matters not that the slave might be contented with 

10 his lot; that his actual condition might be immeasurably 
more desirable than that from which it had transplanted 
him; that it gave him physical comfort, mental and 
moral elevation and religious culture not possessed by 
his race in any other condition; that his bonds had not 

15 been placed upon his hands by the living generation; 
that the mixed social system of which he formed an ele- 
ment had been regarded by the fathers of the Republic, 
and by the ablest statesmen who had risen up after them, 
as too complicated to be broken up without danger to 

20 society, itself, or even to civilization ; or finally, that the 
actual state of things had been recognized and explicitly 
sanctioned by the very organic law of the Republic. 
Weighty as these considerations might be, formidable 
as were the difficulties in the way of the practical en- 

25 forcement of his great principle, he held none the less that 
it must sooner or later be enforced, though institutions 
and constitutions should have to give way alike before 
it. But here let me do this great man the justice which 
amid the excitements of the struggle between the sections 

30 now past, I may have been disposed to deny him. In 
this fiery zeal and this earnest warfare against the wrong, 



L. Q. C. LAMAR 277 

as he viewed it, there entered no enduring personal ani- 
mosity toward the men whose lot it was to be born to 
the system which he denounced. 

It has been the kindness of the sympathy which in these 
later years he has displayed toward the impoverished 5 
and suffering people of the Southern States that has 
unveiled to me the generous and tender heart which beat 
beneath the bosom of the zealot, and has forced me to 
yield him the tribute of my respect, I might even say of 
my admiration. Nor in the manifestation of this has there 10 
been anything which a proud and sensitive people, smart- 
ing under a sense of recent discomfiture and present 
suffering, might not frankly accept, or which would give 
them just cause to suspect its sincerity. For though he 
raised his voice as soon as he believed the momentous issues 15 
of this great military conflict were decided in behalf of 
amnesty to the vanquished, and though he stood forward 
ready to welcome back as brothers and to reestablish 
in their rights as citizens those whose valor had so nearly 
riven asunder the Union which he loved, yet he always 20 
insisted that the most ample protection and the largest 
safeguards should be thrown around the liberties of the 
newly enfranchised African race. Though he knew very 
well that of his conquered fellow-citizens of the South 
by far the larger portion, even those who most heartily 25 
acquiesced in and desired the abolition of slavery, se- 
riously questioned the expediency of investing in a single 
day and without any preliminary tutelage so vast a body 
of inexperienced and uninstructed men with the full 
rights of freemen and voters, he would tolerate no half- 30 
way measures upon a point to him so vital. 



278 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

Indeed, immediately after the war, while other minds 
were occupying themselves with different theories of 
reconstruction, he did not hesitate to impress most em- 
phatically upon the administration, not only in public, 
5 but in the confidence of private intercourse, his uncom- 
promising resolution to oppose to the last any and every 
scheme which should fail to provide the surest guarantees 
for the personal freedom and political rights of the race 
which he had undertaken to protect. Whether his 

10 measures to secure this result showed him to be a practical 
statesman or a theoretical enthusiast is a question on 
which any decision we may pronounce to-day must await 
the inevitable revision of posterity. The spirit of magna- 
nimity, therefore, which breathes in his utterances and 

15 manifests itself in all his acts affecting the South during 
the last two years of his life, was as evidently honest as 
it was grateful to the feelings of those to whom it was 
displayed. 

It was certainly a gracious act toward the South — 

20 though unhappily it jarred upon the sensibilities of the 
people at the other extreme of the Union and estranged 
from him the great body of his political friends — to 
propose to erase from the banners of the national army 
the mementoes of the bloody internecine struggle, which 

25 might be regarded as assailing the pride or wounding the 
sensibilities of the Southern pedf)le. That proposal will 
never be forgotten by that people so long as the name of 
Charles Sumner lives in the memory of man. But 
while it touched the heart of the South and elicited her 

30 profound gratitude, her people would not have asked of 
the North such an act of self-renunciation. 



L. Q. C. LAMAR 279 

Conscious that they themselves were animated by de- 
votion to constitutional liberty, and that the brightest 
pages of history are replete with evidences of the depth 
and sincerity of that devotion, they can but cherish the 
recollections of sacrifices endured, the battles fought and 5 
the victories won in defense of their hapless cause. And 
respecting, as all true and brave men must respect, the 
martial spirit with which the men of the North vindicated 
the integrity of the Union and their devotion to the prin- 
ciples of human freedom, they do not ask, they do not 10 
wish, the North to strike the mementoes of her heroism 
and victory from either records or monuments or battle- 
flags. They would rather that both sections should 
gather up the glories won by each section, not envious, 
but proud of each other, and regard them a common 15 
heritage of American valor. 

Let us hope that future generations, when they remem- 
ber the deeds of heroism and devotion done on both sides, 
will speak not of Northern prowess or Southern courage, 
but of the heroism, fortitude, and courage of Americans 20 
in a war of ideas — a war in which each section signalized 
its consecration to the principles, as each understood them, 
of American liberty and of the Constitution received from 
their fathers. 

It was my misfortune, perhaps my fault, personally 25 
never to have known this eminent philanthropist and 
statesman. The impulse was often strong upon me to go 
to him and offer him my hand and my heart with it, and 
to express to him my thanks for his kind and consider- 
ate course toward the people with whom I am identified. 30 
If I did not yield to that impulse, it was because the thought 



280 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

occurred that other da}^s were coming in which such a 
demonstration might be more opportune and less liable 
to misconstruction. Suddenly and without premonition, 
a day has come at last to which, for such a purpose, there 
5 is no to-morrow. 

My regret is therefore intensified by the thought that 
I failed to speak to him out of the fullness of my heart 
while there was yet time. 

How often is it that death thus brings unavailingly 

10 back to our remembrance opportunities unimproved ; 
in which generous overtures, prompted by the heart, 
remain unoffered; frank avowals which rose to the lips 
remain unspoken; and the injustice and wrong of bitter 
resentments remain unrepaired ! Charles Sumner in 

15 life believed that all occasion for strife and distrust be- 
tween the North and South had passed away, and there 
no longer remained any cause for continued estrange- 
ment between these two sections of our common country. 
Are there not many of us who believe the same thing? 

20 Is not that the common sentiment, or if it is not ought 
it not to be, of the great mass of our people North and 
South ? Bound to each other by a common Constitution, 
destined to live together under a common government, 
forming unitedly but a single member of the great family 

25 of nations, shall w r e not now at last endeavor to grow 
toward each other once more in heart as we are already 
indissolubly linked to each other in fortunes ? Shall we 
not, over the honored remains of this great champion of 
human liberty, this feeling sympathizer with human 

30 sorrow, this earnest pleader for the exercise of human 
tenderness and charity, lay aside the concealments which 



L. Q. C. LAMAR 281 

serve only to perpetuate misunderstandings and distrust, 
and frankly confess that on both sides we most earnestly 
desire to be one ; one not merely in political organization; 
one not merely in identity of institutions ; one not merely 
in community of language and literature and traditions 5 
and country ; but, more and better than all that, one also 
in feeling and in heart ? Am I mistaken in this ? 

Do the concealments of which I speak still cover ani- 
mosities which neither time nor reflection nor the march 
of events have yet sufficed to subdue ? I cannot believe 10 
it. Since I have been here I have watched with anxious 
scrutiny your sentiments as expressed not merely in 
public debate, but in the abandon of personal confidence. 
I know well the sentiments of these my Southern brothers, 
whose hearts are so infolded that the feeling of each is 15 
the feeling of all ; and I see on both sides only the seeming 
of a constraint which each apparently hesitates to dis- 
miss. The South — prostrate, exhausted, drained of 
her lifeblood as well as of her material resources, yet 
still honorable and true — accepts the bitter award of 20 
the bloody arbitrament without reservation, resolutely 
determined to abide the result with chivalrous fidelity; 
yet, as if struck dumb by the magnitude of her reverses, 
she suffers on in silence. 

The North, exultant in her triumph, and elated by sue- 25 
cess, still cherishes, as we are assured, a heart full of mag- 
nanimous emotions toward her disarmed and discomfited 
antagonist; and yet, as if mastered by some mysterious 
spell, silencing her better impulses, her words and acts 
are the words and acts of suspicion and distrust. 30 

Would that the spirit of the illustrious dead whom we 



282 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

lament to-day could speak from the grave to both parties 
to this deplorable discord in tones which should reach each 
and every heart throughout this broad territory, "My 
countrymen, know one another, and you will love, one 
5 another." 



BENJAMIN HARVEY HILL 

The Solid South 

Is it possible a bill which simply says that the army and 
navy shall not be placed at the polls is a stronger assertion 
of secession or the doctrine of State rights than was ever 
made by Calhoun or Breckinridge ? What is the purpose 
of such language as that but to alarm and awe ? A bill s 
which proposes to put the people of this country just where 
they were for seventy-five years, a bill which proposes 
to put the people of this country just where they were 
under Washington, just where they were under Jefferson, 
just where they were under Adams, just where they were 10 
from 1790 to 1865, is a bill to endanger this Union more 
than the war of secession, according to the interpretation 
of the senator from Maine ! That is not all. The senator 
from Maine became perfectly dynamitic : — 

Pass this bill. Pass it as the triumph of the reactionary party 15 
against the spirit of the Union. Pass it in defiance of all the 
lessons and all the teachings that have come from a bloody and 
abortive rebellion. Pass it, and mark it as the high tide of that 
reaction which, were it to rise higher, could lead only to another 
and more formidable rebellion against the legitimate authority of 20 
the Union. (Applause on the floor and in the galleries.) 

Who is talking about war now ? Who was talking about 
war when Virginia was talking about peace? Sir, I will 
2S3 



284 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

not do injustice to the American character by collating, 
as I could do, the number of sentiments that have been 
uttered upon this floor and in the other House during the 
last six weeks intimating that the people of the North 
5 would have another war, another war that is to cut deeper 
than the first and cut beyond the wound. Whom will 
you have the war with ? A war because we want intelli- 
gence, virtue, and property represented in the jury-box ! 
A war because we want to keep the army from the polls ! 

10 A war because we want to say to the States, "You are 
able and willing to control your elections as you have 
done for seventy-five years of the government, and we 
will trust you to do it again ! " A war for that ! A war 
because we stand here as a bulwark of defense for the Con- 

15 stitution of the country against disunionists who would 
destroy the Union by destroying the States ! A war be- 
cause we will not consent to manacle the States of this 
Union, because we will not centralize power in this 
government ! 

20 Sir, I hope the people of America will not commit 
another mistake. I always said it was a fearful mistake 
that the people of the North who did not agree with the 
Republican party and the people of the South who did not 
agree to secession could not have managed to preserve 

25 this Union and let the others alone go to battle. If war 
must come, with whom shall it come? As I said to my 
own people on one occasion, and I repeat it here, if war 
shall come — God forbid that it should ever come — I 
give them notice now that the men they call rebels, 

3c that the men they say are not trustworthy, we of the 
South to a man will go to battle under the Stars and 



BENJAMIN HARVEY HILL 285 

Stripes, under the flag of our country. Do not imagine 
that the destroyers of the States and the advocates of 
monarchy shall ever again bear the flag of our country. 
If you must have a war, we shall maintain our rights in 
the Union ; but I pray God the people will take charge of 5 
this question and see where the danger lies. 

You say the Northern people are alarmed. I assure 
you they have no right to be alarmed with us of the South. 
I assure you they have no right to be alarmed at Southern 
representatives on this floor and in the other House ; 10 
but I tell you the Northern people have a right to be 
alarmed by such threats as have been made here. They 
have a right to be alarmed by men who say or intimate 
that if they cannot control the government, if they can- 
not surround the polls of freemen with armed men, if 15 
they cannot take control of the elections in the States 
by Federal supervisors, they will come to another war and 
cut deeper than the core. They are the men for the 
North to be alarmed at, not we. 

But, as I said in this letter to Mr. Greeley, the Con- 20 
stitution could not be destroyed without war any more 
than the Union could be dissolved without war, and the 
States can no more be destroyed without war than they 
can be divided without war. I said that the danger 
to the country was imminent, and I so confessed it to him ; 25 
that I feared that the course of the extreme men who 
had remained untouched by the war, secession being 
utterly crushed, consolidation being not only alive but 
insolent by reason of its apparent success — I believed 
another war would come; but I believe Providence has 30 
averted that; I believe the very condition of things 



286 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

which seems to alarm the country is going to save this 
country and preserve its peace. I believe that the Dem- 
ocratic majority in the House and the Democratic 
majority in the Senate are going to be able to take care 

5 of this country, preserve its peace, promote its glories, 
and increase its prosperity. 

We appeal to the people. We are going to the people 
in favor of the constitution of Madison, the constitution 
of Webster. We are going to the people in favor of their 

10 own freedom at the polls, in favor of their own intelligence 
in the jury box, in favor of the independence of the States 
in the management of their elections, as had always been 
the case heretofore. The people will answer, in my judg- 
ment, North as well as South. 

15 The course the gentlemen are pursuing, so far from 
bringing the day which they expect — of the reversal 
of a majority of this body — will, as I believe, increase 
it. Men who have lost by revolution, men who have 
lost all by revolution, are the ones who are not going to 

20 force another revolution. Men who owe all they have 
to revolution, who owe wealth and position and power to 

- revolution, who owe the highest honors of the Republic 
to revolution, are the men who may be fairly expected 
to want revolution again. They are the ones for the 

25 people to fear. 

But the senator from New York and the senator from 
Maine, as various other gentlemen have done before, 
take occasion to remind us that they were exceedingly 
gracious to us after the war. The senator from New 

30 York tells us that after reconstruction was completed none 
of our property was confiscated and none of us were dis- 



BENJAMIN HARVEY HILL 287 

franchisee! and none of us were imprisoned. That is a 
fact, after reconstruction was completed. He takes credit 
for turning us loose aftejr he had completed reconstruc- 
tion and reorganized the States upon his idea. I do not 
put the comparison as applicable to the senator from New 5 
York, but it is just as true of the robber who claims credit 
for kindness to the traveler because he had done him no 
harm after he had robbed him and let him go, because 
since the time he had let him go he had done him no harm 
at all. 10 

Sir, the senators are mistaken if they do not think we 
understand to what we owe our redemption. It is not to 
the Republican party. The Republican party set aside our 
State governments. The senator from Maine the other 
day said there had been only fourteen thousand citizens 15 
disfranchised in the South. The senator confounded dis- 
abilities under the fourteenth amendment with disfran- 
chisement. There were at least two hundred and fifty 
thousand citizens disfranchised in the South. 

Mr. Blaine. I said by the action of the Federal 20 
government. 

Mr. Hill, of Georgia. Certainly, by the action of the 
Federal government ; by the reconstruction acts of Con- 
gress. By the reconstruction acts you came down there 
and took possession of our States, set aside our State 25 
governments, declared we had no legal State governments, 
and you created a constituency and created new govern- 
ments and disfranchised two hundred and fifty thousand 
of the very best men, the most intelligent, the property- 
holding men in the whole South, at a time when our 30 
governments were destroyed, when our industrial system 



288 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

was destroyed, and you put us in the hands of our slaves, 
under the lead of strangers, men who came for no pur- 
pose but to get power over us and build governments for 
us, and we had to stand by and witness the process, 
5 threatened with confiscation and exile if we dared resist. 
And there were two hundred and fifty thousand in that 
condition. 

Do gentlemen say that we owe anything to them ? Did 
not my friend from Kentucky quote from the senator 

iofrom Maine in 1868 a statement that there was nothing 
more to be feared from the South ? You thought you had 
destroyed us. You created new constituencies and created 
governments to suit them; you had the power. You 
thought we were powerless forever, and then, like the 

15 wicked Delilah, you said: — 

" Samson, the Philistines be upon you." 

And they were. And after that you left, and left us, 
as you thought, bound with your cords and whips. It 
was then that the Samson of State sovereignty stretched 
20 himself and burst them all. 

Mr. Hoar. And pulled down the temple? 

Mr. Hill, of Georgia. Well, I should think, if the 

senator would go through the South, he would find his 

carpetbag temples in that country just now in the return- 

25 ing boards. There is nothing so sacred to him as a 

returning board. That is all that was left. 

It was through this very agency of the autonomy and 

sovereignty of the States that we were able to recover 

ourselves, not by violence, not by intimidation, as you 

30 falsely charge, but by the very autonomy of the States 



BENJAMIN HARVEY HILL 289 

which you thought you had manacled, which you thought 
you had destroyed. It is to this very autonomy of the 
States that we owe our presence here to-day. Oh, but 
you say the South is solid. That is true. And you 
intimate to the North that we are solid against the Union. 5 
That is not true. There is not a word of truth in it. We 
are solid. Solid how? Solid against whom? Solid 
against the Republican party. Why should we not be? 
Do you wonder? The past is enough to make us solid. 
But let that go. I would remember nothing in the spirit 10 
of revenge. Do you think, Senators, that such speeches 
as you have been making here during the last four weeks 
have no tendency to make the South solid against your 
party? Do you think that such speeches as you have 
been making in the House have no such tendency? Do 15 
you think that it is perfectly legitimate and proper for 
you to calumniate and slander and misrepresent and 
abuse us in every form in which language will authorize 
you to do it, and that we are going to love you for it? 
You may not know it, but we are men. You pick up 20 
every vagabond in the South who can be induced by any 
motive to testify against us, and you believe him, you 
praise him. In your papers you scatter it through all 
your country. You make it appear that we are rebellious. 
I do not care how vile a character he is, I do not care 25 
how covered with crime he is, if he testifies to barbarities 
and cruelties against the best class of Southern people 
you believe him, you profess to believe him ; you parade 
that testimony on this floor; you parade it on the floor 
of the other House ; you parade it before the Northern 30 
people; and I do not care how manly, how intelligent, 

TJ 



290 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

how earnest a man may be that testifies justly for the 
Southern people and gives them credit for honor and 
honesty, you discredit him as unworthy of belief. 

That alone would be sufficient to make the South solid, 
5 but the South is solid against the Republican party for 
another reason. We regard the Republican party as only 
a sectional party. It was sectional in its origin. I will 
not say anj^thing about the questions which then divided 
us, but it was a sectional party; it had no organization 

10 save in some of the States. It has been sectional in its 
history; it has been sectional in its doctrines; it has 
been sectional in its purposes ; it has been sectional in its 
triumphs ; it is sectional now. You never have had any 
organization in the South except that which you forced 

15 and bought — and that could not last — and you never will. 

Now, we have tried sectionalism and we have abandoned 

it, and therefore we cannot consistently affiliate with the 

Republican party. We are for national parties now. We 

come back to the grand old party of the North that never 

20 went off after secession, that never went after the Baals 
of consolidation. If there are any men on this earth for 
whom I have a higher regard than others, they are the 
Democrats of the North. I know those of us at the 
South who were for the Union went through a trying 

25 ordeal, and none can ever know how trying it was except 
those who passed through it; but it seems to me the 
Northern Democrats who were so maligned and abused by 
the Republicans went through a greater, for when the 
crisis came they that had no sympathy with the objects 

30 or purposes of the Republican party shouldered their 
arms and marched side by side with the Republicans of 



BENJAMIN HARVEY HILL 291 

the North to put down their real friends in the South, 
and they did it. And yet, notwithstanding their fidelity 
to the Union, notwithstanding so many hundreds of 
thousands of Democrats periled their all in the war, you 
abuse, you malign them, you give them no credit for it. 5 
And why do we affiliate with them? Because when we 
grounded our arms they met us as brethren and not as 
enemies. 

Then, again, we never can affiliate with the Republican 
party for a higher reason, a greater reason than the one 10 
I have given. The Republican party to-day is the repre- 
sentative and the only representative on this continent of 
the consolidation theory of our government, the theory, 
not of a mixed union, Federal and national, the theory of 
an absolute nationalism, a theory which in its doctrines 15 
is seeking at this very hour to destroy the States of this 
Union. While we have abandoned secession, while we 
have agreed never to divide the States, we have never 
agreed to destroy the States ; we will not agree to do it. 

And then, gentlemen, because of your conduct, your 20 
calumnies, your slanders, what we know to be slanders, 
the South is solid against you. Every day things are re- 
peated upon this floor against ten millions of people 
which no gentleman would dare repeat against one man. 
You charge a whole people with being false, untrust-25 
worthy, untrue, without evidence, against the fact, and 
yet you alarm the North by crying of a solid South. You 
seek to destroy the States when so far from yielding our 
devotion to the States we oWe all that is left of us to the 
States and to that very principle of the government which 30 
recognizes the States as a part of our system. 



292 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

Sir, if the South were solid from any motives of hostility 
to the Union, from any motives of hostility to the Con- 
stitution, from any motives of hostility to the Northern 
people, the South would be exceedingly reprehensible. 
5 We were made solid in defense of our own preservation ; 
we are now solid in defense of our own honor and self- 
respect. We will be kept solid in defense of the Con- 
stitution of our fathers as interpreted by Madison and 
expounded by Webster. We would be glad, if it could 

iobe, to see two national parties in this country, national 
in organization, national in principles, national in hopes, 
and consistent with the true interpretation of the Con- 
stitution ; but the Northern man who after having made 
the South solid by calumny, by wrongs piled mountain 

15 high extending through years, that Northern man who 
takes advantage of the wrongs he has inflicted upon the 
South, and thereby made them solid, who now undertakes 
for that very reason to make the North solid, too, having 
a solid North against a solid South, is a disunionist in fact, 

20 for whenever we shall have a solid North and a solid 
South in this country, the Union cannot last. 

No, my good Northern Democratic brethren, you saved 
the country at last ; you saved the Union in the hour of 
its peril ; not the Republican party. You who had showed 

25 devotion to your flag saved the Union, and now it is for 
you to go before your people and tell them that the solid 
North must never become a fact against the solid South. 
If so, disunion will be accomplished. It is you that we 
look to. You saved the Union, and you will save the 

30 States. We could not help you save the Union, but we 
are here with all the power that God has given us to help 



BENJAMIN HARVEY HILL 293 

you preserve and save the States of this country against 
the only remaining enemy of either the States or the 
Union. 

Mr. President, I know I have detained the Senate long. 
I was born a slaveholder. That was a decree of my coun- 5 
try's laws, not my own. I never bought a slave save at 
his own request; and of that I am not ashamed. I was 
never unkind to a slave, and all I ever owned will bear 
cheerful testimony to that fact. I would never deprive a 
human being, of any race, or color, or condition, of his 10 
right to the equal protection of the laws ; and no colored 
man who knows me believes I would. Of all forms of 
cowardice, that is the meanest which would oppress the 
helpless or wrong the defenseless ; but I had the courage 
to face secession in its maddest hour and say I would not 15 
give the American Union for African slavery, and that if 
slavery dared strike the Union, slavery would perish. 
Slavery did perish, and now in this high council of the 
greatest of nations, I face the leaders of State destruction 
and declare that this ark of our political covenant, this 20 
constitutional casket of our Confederate nation, incasing 
as it does more of human liberty and human security and 
human hope than any government ever formed by man, 
I would not break for the whole African race. And 
cursed, thrice cursed forever be the man who would ! Sir, 25 
in disunion through the disintegration of the States I 
have never been able to see anything but anarchy with 
its endless horrors. In disunion through the destruction 
of the States I have never been able to see anything but 
rigid, hopeless despotism, with all its endless oppression. 30 
In disunion by any means, in any form, for any cause, 



294 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

I have never been able to see anything but blood, and 
waste, and ruin to all races and colors and conditions of 
men. But in the preservation of our Union of States, 
this Confederate nation, I have never been able to see 
5 anything but a grandeur and a glory such as no people 
ever enjoyed. I pray God that every arm that shall be 
raised to destroy that Union may be withered before it 
can strike the blow. 



Z. B. VANCE 

The Scattered Nation 

Says Professor Maury : "There is a river in the ocean. 
In the severest droughts it never fails, and in the mightiest 
floods it never overflows. . The Gulf of Mexico is its foun- 
tain, and its mouth is in the Arctic seas. It is the Gulf 
Stream. Its current is more rapid than the Mississippi 5 
or the Amazon, and its volume more than a thousand 
times greater. Its waters, as far out from the Gulf as 
the Carolina coasts, are of an indigo blue; they are so 
distinctly marked that their line of junction with the 
common sea water may be traced by the eye. Often 10 
one half of a vessel may be perceived floating in Gulf 
Stream water, while the other half is in common water 
of the sea, so sharp is the line and such the want of affinity 
between those waters, and such, too, the reluctance, so to 
speak, on the part of those of the Gulf Stream to mingle 15 
with the common water of the sea." 

This curious phenomenon in the physical world has its 
counterpart in the moral. There is a lonely river in the 
midst of the ocean of mankind. The mightiest floods of 
human temptation have never caused it to overflow and 20 
the fiercest fires of human cruelty, though seven times 
heated in the furnace of religious bigotry, have never 
caused it to dry up, although- its waves for two thousand 
295 



296 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

years have rolled crimson with the blood of its martyrs. 
Its fountain is in the gray dawn of the world's history, 
and its mouth is somewhere in the shadows of eternity. 
It, too, refuses to mingle with the surrounding waves, and 
5 the line which divides its restless billows from the com- 
mon waters of humanity is also plainly visible to the eye. 
It is the Jewish race. 

The Jew is beyond doubt the most remarkable man in 
this world — past or present. Of all the stories of the 

io sons of men, there is none so wild, so wonderful, so full 
of extreme mutation, so replete with suffering and horror, 
so abounding in extraordinary providences, so overflow- 
ing with scenic romance. There is no man who approaches 
him in the extent and character of the influence which 

is he has exercised over the human family. His history is 
the history of our civilization and progress in this world, 
and our faith and hope in that which is to come. From 
him have we derived the form and pattern of all that is 
excellent on earth or in heaven. If, as De Quincey says, 

20 the Roman Emperors, as the great accountants for the 
happiness of more men and men more cultivated than 
ever before, were intrusted to the motions of a single 
will, had a special, singular, and mysterious relation to 
the secret councils of heaven — thrice truly may it be 

25 said of the Jew. Palestine, his home, was the central 
chamber of God's administration. He was at once the 
grand usher to these glorious courts, the repository of 
the councils of the Almighty and the envoy of the divine 
mandates to the consciences of men. He was the priest 

30 and faith-giver to mankind, and as such, in spite of the 
jibe and jeer, he must ever be considered as occupying a 



Z. B. VANCE 297 

peculiar and sacred relation to all other people in this 
world. Even now, though the Jews have long since 
ceased to exist as a consolidated nation, inhabiting a 
common country, and for eighteen hundred years have 
been scattered far and near over the wide earth, theirs 
strange customs, their distinct features, personal peculiari- 
ties, and their scattered unity, make them still a wonder 
and an astonishment. 

Though dead as a nation — as we speak of nations — 
they yet live. Their ideas fill the world and move the 10 
wheels of its progress, even as the sun, when he sinks 
behind the western hills, yet fills the heavens with the 
remnants of his glory. As the destruction of matter in 
one form is made necessary to its resurrection in another, 
so it would seem that the perishing of the Jewish nation- 15 
ality was in order to the universal acceptance and the 
everlasting establishment of Jewish ideas. Never before 
was there an instance of such general rejection of the 
person and character, and acceptance of the doctrines and 
dogmas of a people. 20 

We "admire with unlimited admiration the Greek and 
Roman, but reject with contempt his crude and beastly 
divinities. We affect to despise the Jew, but accept and 
adore the pure conception of a God which he taught us, 
and whose real existence the history of the Jew more 25 
than all else establishes. When the Court Chaplain of 
Frederick the Great was asked by that bluff monarch 
for a brief and concise summary of the argument in sup- 
port of the truths of the Scripture, he instantly replied, 
with a force to which nothing could be added, "The 30 
Jews, Your Majesty, the Jews." 



298 SOUTHERN ORATORS 



Whilst no people can claim such an unmixed purity of 
blood, certainly none can establish such antiquity of 
origin, such unbroken generation of descent. That 
splendid passage of Macaulay so often quoted, in refer- 
5 ence to the Roman Pontiffs, loses its force in sight of 
Hebrew history. "No other institution/ ' says he, "is 
left standing which carries the mind back to the times 
when the smoke of sacrifice rose from the pantheon, and 
when camels, leopards, and tigers bounded in the Iberian 

10 amphitheater. The proudest royal houses are but of 
yesterday as compared with the line of the Supreme 
Pontiffs ; that line we trace back in unbroken lines, from 
the Pope who crowned Napoleon in the nineteenth cen- 
tury, to the Pope who crowned Pipin in the eighth, and 

15 far beyond Pipin, ° the august dynasty extends until it 
is lost in the twilight of fable. The Republic of Venice 
came next in antiquity, but the Republic of Venice is 
modern compared with the Papacy, and the Republic of 
Venice is gone and the Papacy remains. The Catholic 

20 Church was great and respected before the Saxon had set 
foot on Britain, before the Frank had passed the Rhine, 
when Grecian eloquence still flourished at Antioch, 
when idols were still worshiped in the Temple at Mecca ; 
and she may still exist, in undiminished vigor when some 
traveler from New Zealand in the midst of a vast solitude 

25 shall take his stand on a broken arch of London Bridge to 
sketch the ruins of St. Paul. " This is justly esteemed 
one of the most eloquent passages in our literature, but I 
submit it is not history. 

30 The Jewish people, church, and institutions are still left 



Z. B. VANCE 299 

standing, though the stones of the temple remain no 
longer one upon the other, though its sacrificial fires are 
forever extinguished ; and though the tribes, whose glory 
it was, wander with weary feet throughout the earth. 
And what is the line of Roman Pontiffs compared to that 5 
splendid dynasty of the successors of Aaron and Levi? 
"The twilight of fable," in which the line of Pontiffs 
began, was but the noonday brightness of the Jewish 
priesthood. Their institution carries the mind back to the 
age when the prophet, in rapt mood, stood over Babylon 10 
and uttered God's wrath against that grand and won- 
drous mistress of the Euphratean plain — when the 
Memphian chivalry still gave precedence to the chariots 
and horsemen who each morning poured forth from the 
brazen gates of the abode of Amnion ; when Tyre and 15 
Sidon° were yet building their palaces by the sea, and 
Carthage, their greatest daughter, was yet unborn. 
That dynasty of prophetic priests existed even before 
Clio's pen had learned to record the deeds of men ; and 
when that splendid, entombed civilization once lighted 20 
the shores of the Erythraean Sea, the banks of the 
Euphrates, and the plains of Shinar, with a glory incon- 
ceivable, of which there is nought now to tell, except the 
dumb eloquence of ruined temples and buried cities. 

Then, too, it must be remembered that these Pontiffs 25 
were but Gentiles in the garb of Jews, imitating their 
whole routine. All Christian churches are but offshoots 
from or grafts upon the old Jewish stock. Strike out all 
of Judaism from the Christian church, and there remains 
nothing but an unmeaning superstition. 30 

The Christian is simply the successor of the Jew — the 



300 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

glory of the one is likewise the glory of the other. The 
Saviour of the world was, after the flesh, a Jew — born of a 
Jewish maiden ; so, likewise, were all of the apostles and 
first propagators of Christianity. The Christian religion 
5 is equally Jewish with that of Moses and the prophets. 
* * * * * * * 

Time would not permit me, if I had the power, to de- 
scribe the chief city of the Jews, their religious and politi- 
cal capital — "Jerusalem the Holy" — "the dwelling of 
peace." In the days of Jewish prosperity it was in all 

io things a fair type of this strange country and people. 
Enthroned upon the hills of Judah, overflowing with 
riches, the freewill offerings of a devoted people — decked 
with the barbaric splendor of Eastern taste, it was the 
rival in power and wondrous beauty of the most mag- 

15 nificent cities of antiquity. Nearly every one of her great 
competitors have moldered into dust. The bat and the 
owl inhabit their towers, and the fox litters her young in 
the corridors of their palaces, but Jerusalem still sits in 
solitary grandeur upon the lonely hills, and though faded, 

20 feeble, and ruinous, still towers in moral splendor above all 
the spires and domes and pinnacles ever erected by human 
hands. Nor can I dwell, tempting as is the theme, upon 
the scenery, the glowing landscapes, the cultivated fields, 
gardens and vineyards and gurgling fountains of that 

25 pleasant land. Many high summits and even one of the 
towers in the walls of the city of Jerusalem were said to 
have afforded a perfect view of the whole land from 
border to border. I must be content with asking you to 
imagine what a divine prospect would burst upon the 

30 vision from the summit of that stately tower ; and picture 



Z. B. VANCE 301 

the burning sands of the desert far beyond the mysterious 
waters of the Dead Sea on the one hand, the shining 
waves of the great sea on the other, flecked with the 
white sails of the Tyrian ships, whilst hoary Lebanon, 
crowned with its diadem of perpetual snow, glittered in 5 
the morning light like a dome of fire tempered with the 
emerald of its cedars — a fillet of glory around its brow. 
The beauty of that band of God's people, the charm of 
their songs, the comeliness of their maidens, the celestial 
peace of their homes, the romance of their national his- 10 
tory, and the sublimity of their faith, so entice me, that I 
would not know when to cease, should I once enter upon 
their story. I must leave behind, too, the blood-stained 
record of their last great siege, illustrated by their splendid 
but unavailing courage ; their fatal dissensions and final 15 
destruction, with all its incredible horrors ; of their exile 
and slavery, of their dispersion in all lands and kingdoms, 
of their persecutions, sufferings, wanderings, and despair, 
for eighteen hundred years. Indeed, it is a story that 
puts to shame not only our Christianity, but our common 20 
humanity. It staggers belief to be told, not only that 
such things could be done at all, by blinded heathen or 
ferocious Pagan, but done by Christian people and in the 
name of Him, the meek and lowly, who was called the 
Prince of Peace, and the harbinger of good will to men. 25 
Still it is an instructive story ; it seems to mark in colors 
never to be forgotten, both the wickedness and the folly 
of intolerance. Truly, it serves to show that the wrath 
of a religious bigot is more fearful and ingenious than the 
crudest of tortures hatched in the councils of hell. It is 30 
not my purpose to comment upon the religion of the Jews, 



302 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

nor shall I undertake to say that they gave no cause in 
the earlier ages of Christianity for the hatred of their 
opponents. Undoubtedly they gave much cause, and 
exhibited themselves much bitterness and ferocity towards 
5 the followers of the Nazarene ; which, however it may be 
an excuse, is far from being a justification of the centuries 
of horror which followed. But if constancy, faithfulness, 
and devotion to principle under the most trying circum- 
stances to which the children of men were ever subjected, 

10 be considered virtues, then indeed are the Jews to be 
admired. They may safely defy the rest of mankind to 
show such undying adherence to accepted faith, such 
wholesale sacrifice for conscience' sake. For it they have 
in all ages given up home and country, wives and chil- 

15 dren, gold and goods, ease and shelter and life; for it 
they endured all the evils of an infernal wrath for eigh- 
teen centuries ; for it they have endured, and — say 
what you will — endured with an inexpressible manhood 
that which no other portion of the human family ever 

20 have, or, in my opinion, ever would have endured. For 
sixty generations the heritage which the Father left the 
son was misery, suffering, shame, and despair; arid that 
son preserved and handed down to his son that black 
heritage as a golden heirloom, for the sake of God. 

25 . I agree with Lord Macaulay that the Jew is what we 
have made him. If he is a bad job, in all honesty we 
should contemplate him as the handiwork of our own 
civilization. If there be indeed guile upon his lips or 
servility in his manner, we should remember that such 

30 are the legitimate fruits of oppression and wrong, and 



Z. B. VANCE 303 

that they have been, since the pride of Judah was broken 
and his strength scattered, his only means of turning 
aside the uplifted sword and the poised javelin of him 
who sought to plunder and slay. Indeed, so long has he 
schemed and shifted to avoid injustice and cruelty, that 5 
we can perceive in him all the restless watchfulness which 
characterizes the hunted animal. 

To this day the cast of the Jew's features in repose is 
habitually grave and sad as though the very plow- 
share of sorrow had marked its furrows across their faces 10 
forever. 

"And where shall Israel lave her bleeding feet! 
And when shall Zion's song again seem sweet, 
And Judah' s melody once more rejoice 

The hearts that leaped before its heavenly voice? 15 

Tribes of the wandering foot and weary" heart 
How shall ye flee away and be at rest? 
The wild dove hath her nest — the fox his cave — 
Mankind their country — Israel but the grave." 

The hardness of Christian prejudice having dissolved, 20 
so will that of the Jew. The hammer of persecution 
having ceased to beat upon the iron mass of their stub- 
bornness, it will cease to consolidate and harden, and the 
main strength of their exclusion and preservation will 
have been lost. They will perhaps learn that one sen- 25 
tence of our Lord's prayer, which it is said is not to be 
found in the Talmud, and which is the keynote of the 
difference between Jew and Gentile, "Forgive us our 
trespasses as we forgive them who trespass against us." 

If so, they will become as other men, and taking their 3° 



304 SOU THE RX ORATORS 

harps down from the willows, no longer refuse to sing 
the songs of Zion because thev are captives in a strange 
land. 

I believe that there is a morning to open yet for the 

5 Jews in Heaven's good time, and if that opening shall be 

in any way commensurate with the darkness of the night 

through which they have passed, it will be the brightest 

that ever dawned upon a faithful people. 

I have stood on the summit of the very monarch of our 

10 great Southern Alleghanies and seen the night flee away 
before the chariot wheels of the god of day. The stars 
receded before the pillars of lambent fire that pierced the 
zenith, a thousand ragged mountain peaks began to peer 
up from the abysmal darkness, each looking through the 

15 vapory seas that rilled the gorges like an island whose 
"jutting and confounded base was swilled by the wild and 
wasteful ocean." As the curtain was lifted more and 
more and the eastern brightness grew in radiance and 
glory, animate nature prepared to receive her lord: the 

20 tiny snowbird from its nest in the turf began chirping to 
its young ; the silver pheasant sounded its morning drum- 
beat for its mate in the boughs of the fragrant fir: the 
dun deer rising slowly from his mossy couch and stretch- 
ing himself in graceful curves, began to crop the tender 

25 herbage ; whilst the lordly eagle rising straight upward 
from his home on the crag, with pinions wide spread, 
bared his golden breast to the yellow beams and screamed 
his welcome to the sun in his coming ! Soon the vapors 
of the night are lifted up on shafts of fire, rolling and 

30 seething in billows of refulgent flame, until, when far 
overhead, they are caught upon the wings of the morning 



Z. B. VANCE 305 

breeze and swept away, perfect day was established and 
* there was peace. So may it be with this long-suffering 
and immortal people. So may the real spirit of Christ 
yet be so triumphantly infused amongst those who pro- 
fess to obey his teachings, that with one voice and ones 
hand they will stay the persecutions and hush the sor- 
rows of these their wondrous kinsmen, put them forward 
into the places of honor and the homes of love where all 
the lands in which they dwell shall be to them as was 
Jerusalem to their fathers. So may the morning come, 10 
not to them alone, but to all the children of men who, 
through much tribulation and with heroic manhood, have 
waited for its dawning, with a faith whose constant cry 
through all the dreary watches of the night has been, 
"Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him !" 15 

"Roll, golden sun, roll swiftly toward the west, 

Dawn, happy day, when many woes shall cease; 
Come quickly, Lord, thy people wait the rest 
Of thine abiding peace ! 

"No more, no more to hunger here for love; 20 

No more to thirst for blessings long denied. 
Judah ! Thy face is foul with weeping, but above 
Thou shalt be satisfied!" 



HENRY WOODFIN GRADY 

The New South 

Mr. President and Gentlemen, — "There was a South 
of slavery and secession — that South is dead. There 
is a South of union and freedom — that South, thank 
God, is living, breathing, growing every hour." These 
5 words, delivered from the immortal lips of Benjamin H. 
Hill,° at Tammany Hall° in 1866, true then, truer now, 
I shall make my text to-night. 

Let me express to you my appreciation of the kindness 

by which I am permitted to address you. I make this 

10 abrupt acknowledgment advisedly, for I feel that if, when 

I raise my provincial voice in this ancient and august 

presence, I could find courage for no more than the opening 

sentence, it would be well if, in that sentence, I had met 

in a rough sense my obligation as a guest, and had perished, 

15 so to speak, with courtesy on my lips and grace in my 

heart. Permitted through your kindness to catch my 

second wind, let me say that I appreciate the significance 

of being the first Southerner to speak at this board, which 

bears the substance, if it surpasses the semblance, of origi- 

20 nal New England hospitality, and honors a sentiment that 

in turn honors you, but in which my personality is lost, 

and the compliment to my people made plain. 

I bespeak the utmost stretch of your courtesy to-night. 
306 



HENRY WOODFIN GRADY 307 

I am not troubled about those from whom I come. You 
remember the man whose wife sent him to a neighbor 
with a pitcher of milk, and who, tripping on the top step, 
fell, with such casual interruptions as the landing afforded, 
into the basement ; and while picking himself up had the 5 
pleasure of hearing his wife call out, "John, did you 
break the pitcher?" "No, I didn't," said John, "but I 
be dinged if I don't ! " 

So, while those who call to me from behind may inspire 
me with energy if not with courage, I ask an indulgent 10 
hearing from you. I beg that you shall bring your full 
faith in American fairness and frankness to judgment 
upon what I shall say. There was an old preacher once 
who told some boys of the Bible lesson he was going to 
read in the morning. The boys, finding the place, glued 15 
together the connecting pages. The next morning he 
read on the bottom of one page: "When Noah was one 
hundred and twenty years old he took unto himself a 
wife, who was " — then turning the page — " one hundred 
and forty cubits long, forty cubits wide, built of gopher- 20 
wood, and covered with pitch inside and out." He was 
naturally puzzled at this. He read it again, verified it, 
and then said : " IVfy friends, this is the first time I ever met 
this in the Bible, but I accept it as an evidence of the asser- 
tion that we are fearfully and wonderfully made." If I 25 
could get you to hold such faith to-night I could proceed 
cheerfully to the task I otherwise approach with a sense of 
consecration. 

Pardon me one word, Mr. President, spoken for the sole 
purpose of getting into the volumes that go out annually 30 
freighted with the rich eloquence of your speakers — the fact 



308 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

that the Cavalier as well as the Puritan was on the conti- 
nent in its early days, and that he was "up and able to be 
about." I have read your books carefully and I find no 
mention of that fact, which seems to me an important one 
5 for preserving a sort of historical equilibrium if for nothing 
else. Let me remind you that the Virginia Cavalier first 
challenged France on this continent — that Cavalier 
John Smith gave New England its very name, and was 
so pleased with the job that he has been handing his own 

10 name around ever since — and that while Miles Standish 
was cutting off men's ears for courting a girl without her 
parents' consent, and forbade men to kiss their wives on 
Sunday, the Cavalier was courting everything in sight, and 
that the Almighty had vouchsafed great increase to the 

15 Cavalier colonies, the huts in the wilderness being full 
as the nests in the woods. 

But having incorporated the Cavalier as a fact in your 
charming little books, I shall let him work out his own 
salvation, as he has always done with engaging gallantry, 

20 and we will hold no controversy as to his merits. Why 
should we? Neither Puritan nor Cavalier long survived 
as such. The virtues and traditions of both happily still 
live for the inspiration of their sons and the saving of the 
old fashion. But both Puritan and Cavalier were lost in 

25 the storm of the first Revolution ; and the American citi- 
zen, supplanting both and stronger than either, took 
possession of the Republic bought by their common blood 
and fashioned to wisdom, and charged himself with teach- 
ing men government and establishing the voice of the 

3° people as the voice of God. 

My friend Dr. Talmage has told you that the typical 



HENRY WOODFIN GRADY 309 

American has yet to come. Let me tell you that he has 
already come. Great types like valuable plants are slow 
to flower and fruit. But from the union of these colonist 
Puritans and Cavaliers, from the straightening of their 
purposes and the crossing of their blood, slow perfecting 5 
through a century, came he who stands as the first typical 
American, the first who comprehended within himself 
all the strength and gentleness, all the majesty and grace 
of this Republic — Abraham Lincoln. He was the sum of 
Puritan and Cavalier, for in his ardent nature were fused 10 
the virtues of both, and in the depths of his great soul the 
faults of both were lost. He was greater than Puritan, 
greater than Cavalier, in that he was American, and that 
in his homely form were first gathered the vast and thrill- 
ing forces of his ideal government — charging it with such 15 
tremendous meaning and so elevating it above human 
suffering that martyrdom, though infamously aimed, 
came as a fitting crown to a life consecrated to human 
liberty. Let us, each cherishing the traditions and honor- 
ing his fathers, build with reverent hands to the type of 20 
this simple but sublime life, in which all types are honored ; 
and in our common glory as Americans there will be plenty 
and to spare for your forefathers and for mine. 

In speaking to the toast with which you have honored 
me, I accept the term, "The New South," as in no sense 25 
disparaging to the Old. Dear to me, sir, is the home of 
my childhood and the traditions of my people. I would 
not, if I could, dim the glory they won in peace and war, 
or by word or deed take aught from the splendor and grace 
of their civilization — never equaled and, perhaps, never 30 
to be equaled in its chivalric strength and grace. There is 



310 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

a New South, not through protest against the Old, but be- 
cause of new conditions, new adjustments and, if you please, 
new ideas and aspirations. It is to this that I address 
myself, and to the consideration of which I hasten lest it 
5 become the Old South before I get to it. Age does not 
endow all things with strength and virtue, nor are all new 
things to be despised. The shoemaker who put over his 
door "John Smith's shop. Founded in 1760," was more 
than matched by his young rival across the street who 

io hung out this sign : "Bill Jones. Established 1886. No 
old stock kept in this shop." 

Dr. Talmage has drawn for you, with a master's hand, 
the picture of your returning armies. He has. told you 
how, in the pomp and circumstance of war, they came back 

15 to you, marching with proud and victorious tread, reading 
their glory in a nation's eyes ! Will you bear with me 
while I tell you of another army that sought its home at the 
close of the late war — an army that marched home in 
defeat and not in victory — in pathos and not in splendor, 

20 but in glory that equaled yours, and to hearts as loving as 
ever welcomed heroes home. Let me picture to you the 
footsore Confederate soldier as, buttoning up in his faded 
gray jacket the parole which was to bear testimony to his 
children of his fidelity and faith, he turned his face south- 

25 ward from Appomattox in April, 1865. Think of him as 
ragged, half-starved, heavy-hearted, enfeebled by want 
and wounds ; having fought to exhaustion, he surrenders 
his gun, wrings the hands of his comrades in silence, and 
lifting his tear-stained and pallid face for the last time to 

30 the graves that dot the old Virginia hills, pulls his gray cap 
over his brow and begins the slow and painful journey. 



HENRY WOODFIN GRADY 311 

What does he find — let me ask you, who went to your 
homes eager to find in the welcome you had justly earned, 
full payment for four years' sacrifice — what does he find 
when, having followed the battle-stained cross against 
overwhelming odds, dreading death not half so much as 5 
surrender, he reaches the home he left so prosperous and 
beautiful? He finds his house in ruins, his farm devas- 
tated, his slaves free, his stock killed, his barns empty, 
his trade destroyed, his money worthless; his social 
system, feudal in its magnificence, swept away ; his people 10 
without law or legal status, his comrades slain, and the 
burdens of others heavy on his shoulders. Crushed by 
defeat, his very traditions are gone; without money, 
credit, employment, material, or training and, besides all 
this, confronted with the gravest problem that ever met 15 
human intelligence — the establishing of a status for the 
vast body of his liberated slaves. 

What does he do — this hero in gray with a heart of 
gold ? Does he sit down in sullenness and despair ? Not 
for a day. Surely God, who had stripped him of his 20 
prosperity, inspired him in his adversity. As ruin was 
never before so overwhelming, never was restoration 
swifter. The soldier stepped from the trenches into the 
furrow; horses that had charged Federal guns marched 
before the plow, and fields that ran red with human blood 25 
in April were green with the harvest in June; women 
reared in luxury cut up their dresses and made breeches 
for their husbands, and, with a patience and a heroism that 
fit women always as a garment, gave their hands to work. 
There was little bitterness in all this. Cheerfulness and 30 
frankness prevailed. "Bill Arp°" struck the keynote 



312 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

when he said : "Well, I killed as many of them as they' did 
of me, and now I am going to work." Or the soldier 
returning home after defeat and roasting some corn on the 
roadside, who made the remark to his comrades: "You 
5 may leave the South if you want to, but I am going to 
Sandersville, kiss my wife, and raise a crop, and if the 
Yankees fool with me any more I will whip 'em again." 
I want to say to General Sherman — who is considered an 
able man in our parts, though some people think he is a 

10 kind of careless man about fire — that from the ashes he 
left us in 1864 we have raised a brave and beautiful city ; 
that somehow we have caught the sunshine in the bricks 
and mortar of our homes, and have builded therein not 
one ignoble prejudice or memory. 

is But in all this what have we accomplished? What is 
the sum of our work? We have found out that in the 
general summary the free negro counts more than he did 
as a slave. We have planted the schoolhouse on the hill- 
top and made it free to white and black. We have sown 

20 towns and cities in the place of theories, and put business 
above politics. We have challenged your spinners in 
Massachusetts and your ironmakers in Pennsylvania. 
We have learned that the $400,000,000 annually received 
from our cotton crop will make us rich, when the supplies 

25 that make it are home-raised. We have reduced the com- 
mercial rate of interest from twenty-four to six per cent, 
and are floating four per cent bonds. We have learned 
that one Northern immigrant is worth fifty foreigners, and 
have smoothed the path to southward, wiped out the place 

30 where Mason and Dixon's line used to be, and hung our 
latchstring out to you and yours. We have reached the 



HENRY WOOD FIN GRADY 313 

point that marks perfect harmony in every household, 
when the husband confesses that the pies which his wife 
cooks are as good as those his mother used to bake; and 
we admit that the sun shines as brightly and the moon as 
softly as it did "before the war." We have established 5 
thrift in city and country. We have fallen in love with 
work. We have restored comfort to homes from which 
culture and elegance never departed. We have let econ- 
omy take root and spread among us as rank as the crab- 
grass which sprung from Sherman's cavalry camps, until 10 
we are ready to lay odds on the Georgia Yankee, as he 
manufactures relics of the battlefield in a one-story shanty 
and squeezes pure olive oil out of his cotton seed, against 
any downeaster that ever swapped wooden nutmegs for 
flannel sausages in the valleys of Vermont. Above all, 15 
we know that we have achieved in these "piping times of 
peace " a fuller independence for the South than that which 
our fathers sought to win in the forum by their eloquence or 
compel on the field by their swords. 

It is a rare privilege, sir, to have had part, however 20 
humble, in this work. Never was nobler duty confided to 
human hands than the uplifting and upbuilding of the pros- 
trate and bleeding South, misguided, perhaps, but beautiful 
in her suffering, and honest, brave, and generous always. 
In the record of her social, industrial, and political illus-25 
trations we await with confidence the verdict of the world. 

But what of the negro? Have we solved the problem 
he presents or progressed in honor and equity towards the 
solution ? Let the record speak to the point. No section 
shows a more prosperous laboring population than the 30 
negroes of the South; none in fuller sympathy with the 



314 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

employing and landowning class. He shares our school 
fund, has the fullest protection of our laws and the friend- 
ship of our people. Self-interest, as well as honor, demand 
that he should have this. Our future, our very existence, 
5 depend upon our working out this problem in full and exact 
justice. We understand that when Lincoln signed the 
Emancipation Proclamation, your victory was assured; 
for he then committed you to the cause of human liberty, 
against which the terms of man cannot prevail; while 

10 those of our statesmen who trusted to make slavery the 
corner stone of the Confederacy doomed us to defeat as 
far as they could, committing us to a cause that reason 
could not defend or the sword maintain in the sight of ad- 
vancing civilization. Had Mr. Toombs said, which he did 

15 not say, that he would call the roll of his slaves at the foot 
of Bunker Hill, he would have been foolish, for he might 
have known that whenever slavery became entangled in 
war, it must perish, and that the chattel in human flesh 
ended forever in New England when your fathers — not 

20 to be blamed for parting with what didn't pay — sold their 
slaves to our fathers — not to be praised for knowing a 
paying thing when they saw it. 

The relations of the Southern people with the negro are 
close and cordial. We remember with what fidelity for 

25 four years he guarded our defenseless women and children, 
whose husbands and fathers were fighting against his 
freedom. To his eternal credit be it said that whenever he 
struck a blow for his own liberty he fought in open battle, 
and when at last he raised his black and humble hands 

30 that the shackles might be struck off, those hands were 
innocent of wrong against his helpless charges, and worthy 



HENRY W00DF1N GRADY 315 

to be taken in loving grasp by every man who honors 
loyalty and devotion. Ruffians have maltreated him, ras- 
cals have misled him, philanthropists established a bank 
for him, but the South, with the North, protests against 
injustice to this simple and sincere people. To liberty 5 
and enfranchisement is as far as law can carry the negro. 
The rest must be left to conscience and common sense. It 
should be left to those among whom his lot is cast, with 
whom he is indissolubly connected and whose prosperity 
depends upon their possessing his intelligent sympathy and 10 
confidence. Faith has been kept with him in spite of cal- 
umnious assertions to the contrary by those who assume to 
speak for us or by frank opponents. Faith will be kept with 
him in the future, if the South holds her reason and integrity. 

But have we kept faith with you ? In the fullest sense, 15 
yes. When Lee surrendered — I don't say when John- 
ston surrendered, because I understand he still alludes 
to the time when he met General Sherman last as the time 
when he " determined to abandon any further prosecution 
of the struggle " — when Lee surrendered, I say, and John- 20 
ston quit, the South became, and has since been, loyal to 
this Union. We fought hard enough to know that we were 
whipped, and in perfect frankness accepted as final the 
arbitrament of the sword to which we had appealed. The 
South found her jewel in the toad's head of defeat. The 25 
shackles that had held her in narrow limitations fell for- 
ever when the shackles of the negro slave were broken. 
Under the old regime the negroes were slaves to the South, 
the South was a slave to the system. The old plantation, 
with its simple police regulation and its feudal habit, was 30 
the only type possible under slavery. Thus we gathered 



316 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

in the hands of a splendid and chivalric oligarchy the 
substance that should have been diffused among the people, 
as the rich blood, under certain artificial conditions, is 
gathered at the heart, filling that with affluent rapture, 
5 but leaving the body chill and colorless. 

The Old South rested everything on slavery and agricul- 
ture, unconscious that these could neither give nor maintain 
healthy growth. The New South presents a perfect 
Democracy, the oligarchs leading in the popular move- 

10 ment — a social system compact and closely knitted, less 
splendid on the surface but stronger at the core — a hun- 
dred farms for every plantation, fifty homes for every 
palace, and a diversified industry that meets the complex 
needs of this complex age. 

15 The New South is enamored of her new work. Her soul 
is stirred with the breath of a new life. The light of a 
grander day is falling fair on her face. She is thrilling with 
the consciousness of growing power and prosperity. As she 
stands upright, f ull-statured and equal among the people of 

20 the earth, breathing the keen air and looking out upon the 

expanding horizon, she understands that her emancipation 

came because in the inscrutable wisdom of God her honest 

purpose was crossed and her brave armies were beaten. 

This is said in no spirit of time serving or apology. The 

25 South has nothing for which to apologize. She believes 
that the late struggle between the States was war and not 
rebellion, revolution and not conspiracy, and that her con- 
victions were as honest as yours. I should be unjust to the 
dauntless spirit of the South and to my own convictions if I 

30 did not make this plain in this presence. The South has 
nothing to take back. In my native town of Athens is a 



HENRY WOODFIN GRADY 317 

monument that crowns its central hills — a plain white 
shaft. Deep cut into its shining sides is a name dear to 
me above the names of men, that of a brave and simple 
man who died in brave and simple faith. Not for all the 
glories of New England — from Plymouth Rock all the 5 
way — would I exchange the heritage he left me in his 
soldier's death. To the foot of that shaft I shall send my 
children's children to reverence him who ennobled their 
name with his heroic blood. But, sir, speaking from the 
shadow of that memory, which I honor as I do nothing ic 
else on earth, I say that the cause in which he suffered and 
for which he gave his life was adjudged by higher and fuller 
wisdom than his or mine, and I am glad that the omnis- 
cient God held the balance of battle in His Almighty hand, 
and that human slavery was swept forever from American 15 
soil — the American Union saved from the wreck of war. 

This message, Mr. President, comes to you from conse- 
crated ground. Every foot of the soil about the city in 
which I live is sacred as a battleground of the Republic. 
Every hill that invests it is hallowed to you by the blood 20 
of your brothers, who died for your victory, and doubly 
hallowed to us by the blood of those who died hopeless, but 
undaunted, in defeat — sacred soil to all of us, rich with 
memories that make us purer and stronger and better, silent 
but stanch witnesses in its red desolation of the matchless 25 
valor of American hearts and the deathless glory of Ameri- 
can arms — speaking an eloquent witness in its white peace 
and prosperity to the indissoluble union of American States 
and the imperishable brotherhood of the American people. 

Now, what answer has New England to this message ? 3° 
Will she permit the prejudices of war to remain in the hearts 



318 SOUTHERN ORATORS 

of the conquerors, when it has died in the hearts of the 
conquered ? Will she transmit this prejudice to the next 
generation, that in their hearts, which never felt the 
generous ardor of conflict, it may perpetuate itself ? Will 
5 she withhold, save in strained courtesy, the hand which 
straight from his soldier's heart Grant offered Lee at 
Appomattox ? Will she make the vision of a restored and 
happy people, which gathered about the couch of your 
dying captain, filling his heart with grace, touching his 

10 lips with praise and glorifying his path to the grave ; will 
she make this vision on which the last sigh of his expiring 
soul breathed a benediction, a cheat and a delusion? If 
she does, the South, never abject in asking for comrade- 
ship, must accept with dignity its refusal ; but if she does 

15 not ; if she accepts in frankness and sincerity this message 
of good will and friendship, then will the prophecy of 
Webster, delivered in this very Society forty years ago, 
amid tremendous applause, be verified in its fullest and 
widest sense, when he said : " Standing hand to hand and 

20 clasping hands, we should remain united as we have 
been for sixty years, citizens of the same country, mem- 
bers of the same government, united, all united now 
and united forever. There have been difficulties, con- 
tentions, and controversies, but I tell you that in my 

25 judgment 

'"Those opposed eyes, 
Which, like the meteors of a troubled heaven, 
All of one nature, of one substance bred, 
Did lately meet in th' intestine shock, 
o Shall now, in mutual well-beseeming ranks, 

March all one way.' " 



NOTES 



" GIVE ME LIBERTY OR GIVE ME DEATH ! " 

Delivered in Richmond, March 23, 1775, before the Second 
Revolutionary Convention of Virginia. Mr. Henry had just 
offered a resolution recommending the establishment of a 
well-regulated militia for purposes of defense, and to take 
the place of mercenary troops of the mother country. 
Milder-spirited and more pacific leaders opposed his reso- 
lutions, whereupon Mr. Henry arose and delivered this 
eloquent appeal — - a veritable call to arms. His resolu- 
tions were adopted and a committee including, among others, 
Richard Henry Lee, George Washington, and Thomas 
Jefferson, was appointed to draw up the plan necessary to 
carry out the recommendations. Mr. Lee, who probably 
holds second place to Henry among Southern orators of 
the Revolutionary period, spoke eloquently in favor of the 
resolutions, but unfortunately no written copy of this, or 
any of his speeches, was preserved. 

This selection is copied from William Wirt's " Life of 
Patrick Henry," pp. 138-142. It is probable that Mr. Wirt, 
who was himself an orator and rhetorician of merit, has 
added somewhat to the literary finish of Henry's production. 

SPEECH DELIVERED TO THE SOUTH CAROLINA 
COLONIAL ASSEMBLY 

This speech was delivered by John Rutledge, President 
and Commander-in-chief of South Carolina, before a joint 
319 



320 NOTES 

session of the two Houses of the Colonial Assembly, on the 
day of its adjournment, April 11, 1776. The assembly 
ordered that the speech be " printed as well in the news- 
papers as otherwise," but notwithstanding this precaution 
the report is probably incomplete. Rutledge seems to have 
been the orator of South Carolina till the days of Calhoun 
and Hayne, and this specimen of his oratory is considered 
the best we have remaining. It is copied from the " Jour- 
nal of the General Assembly of South Carolina," March 26, 
1776-April 11, 1776, which has been edited by A. S. Salley, 
Jr., Secretary of the Historical Commission of South Caro- 
lina. I have taken the liberty of punctuating the speech 
and of changing the use of capitals in a number of instances. 

ON THE ADOPTION OF THE CONSTITUTION 

Delivered June 6, 1788, before the Constitutional Con- 
vention of Virginia, convened in Richmond, June 2, 1788. 
Found in the " Debates and Other Proceedings of the 
Convention of Virginia," published by Ritchie and Worsley 
and Augustine Davis (1805), pp. 57-59. It is evident, I 
think, that some inaccuracies occurred in reporting the 
speech. 

12 : 16. Josiah Phillips. A notorious marauder and 
murderer of southeastern Virginia who was declared an 
outlaw by a bill of attainder passed by the Virginia House 
of Delegates, June 1, 1778. He was captured, and Mr. 
Randolph, who was at the time Attorney-general, but who 
seems to have forgotten during this speech the circumstances 
of the trial, set aside the bill of attainder, indicted the prisoner 
regularly for murder and robbery, and secured his convic- 
tion. (See Howison's " History of Virginia," Vol. II, pp. 
225-228.) 

13 : 22. The honorable gentleman. Patrick Henry, who 



NOTES 321 

opposed with all his eloquence Virginia's ratification of the 
Constitution, and to whom Mr. Randolph is replying in this 
speech. 

ON CONGRESSIONAL CONTROL OF THE MILITIA 

Delivered Saturday, June 14, 1788, before the Constitu- 
tional Convention of Virginia, convened in Richmond for 
the purpose of deliberating on the Constitution recommended 
by the grand Federal Convention. Found in " Debates and 
Other Proceedings of the Convention " printed for Ritchie 
and Worsley and Augustine Davis (1805), pp. 269-271. 
Abridged. 

Mr. Mason was a leading member of the Convention that 
framed the Federal Constitution, but objecting to some of 
its compromises, refused to sign it, and, returning to Virginia, 
threw " his great influence on the Anti-Federalist side." 
The speech from which this selection is taken is marked by 
forceful statement and argument. 

19 : 29. An artful man . . . governor of Pennsylvania. 
Sir William Keith, Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania 
and Delaware, 1717-1726. 

20 : 23. English Parliament . . . mutiny bill. The Mu- 
tiny Bill, now Army Act, is passed annually by the British 
Parliament, empowering the crown to govern the army and 
navy. 

THE TRIAL OF AARON BURR 

Delivered Tuesday, Aug. 25, 1807, in the Circuit Court 
of the United States, held at the city of Richmond, Va., 
during the trial of Aaron Burr " for Treason and for a Mis- 
demeanor, in preparing the means of a military expedition 
against Mexico, a territory of the King of Spain, with whom 



322 NOTES 

the United States are at peace." The selection is taken 
from the reports of the trial, published by Hopkins and 
Earle, Philadelphia, 1808, pp. 95-98. 

22 : 1. Blennerhassett. An English adventurer of edu- 
cation, culture, and wealth who came to America in 1798 
and bought Backus Island in the Ohio River. Here he 
established himself in splendor and spent his time in study 
and scientific experiments. Burr persuaded him to join 
in the wild scheme which probably had for its object the 
conquest of Mexico and the southwestern part of the United 
States; but their plans having been disclosed, the two were 
arrested and brought to trial. Nothing being proved 
against Burr, his associates in the conspiracy were dis- 
charged. After various wanderings Blennerhassett re- 
turned to England and died on the island of Guernsey in 
1831. 

24 : 2. Shenstone. An English poet (1714-1763) who 
amused himself by landscape gardening and whose grounds 
became famous in England for their beauty. 

24 : 4. Calypso. " In Grecian legend, a nymph, dwelling 
alone on a remote island, who rescued the shipwrecked 
Odysseus, and kept him with her seven years, promising 
him immortality, but unable to make him cease his longing 
to return to Ithaca " (International Enyclopedia). 

SPEECH ON THE MISSOURI QUESTION 

When the Territory of Missouri applied for admission to 
the Union as a State, the question as to whether it should be 
admitted as a free or a slave State came up for discussion. 
After occupying the attention of Congress for a large part 
of two sessions, the question was settled by the famous 
Missouri Compromise of 1820. The main features of the 
Compromise were that Missouri was to be admitted as a 



NOTES 323 

slave State, and that slavery was to be prohibited in the 
remainder of the Louisiana Territory north of the parallel 
36° 30'. Mr. Pinkney's argument in favor of the admission 
of Missouri without restrictions was one of the ablest de- 
livered during the lengthy debate. Only selected extracts 
are given. It was delivered Feb. 15, 1820, and is found 
in Annals of Congress, 16th Congress, 1st Session, Vol. I. 

27 : 9. Cujus est dare ejus est disponere. He who has 
the right to grant (a power), has the right to decide (its 
limitations). 

28 : 16. Bridge your way over the Hellespont. A refer- 
ence to the bridging and crossing of the Hellespont (Bos- 
porus Str.) by Xerxes, the Persian king who invaded Greece, 
according to some ancient writers, with an army of a million 
men. 

28:21. Milton. John Milton (1608-1674), the great 
English poet, author of " Paradise Lost " and " Paradise 
Regained." 

35 : 7. Inter pares = among equals; disparates = un- 
equals. 

39 : 9. Pro hac vice = for this turn, or occasion. 

RETORT TO McLANE 

Delivered in the House of Representatives, Apr. 12, 1824, 
during the discussion of the tariff bill of that year. Found 
in the Register of Debates of Congress, 18th Congress, 
1st Session, pp. 2314, 2315. Also found in Garland's 
" Life of Randolph," Vol. II, pp. 215-217. Garland says 
of the reply: " This is the finest retort of the kind to be 
found in the English language. Its admirable style and 
temper cannot be too strongly recommended to those who 
in the heat of debate may be tempted to say severe and irri- 
tating things." ("Life of John Randolph," Vol. II, p. 217.) 



324 NOTES 

Randolph's style of oratory is puzzling. He is brilliant at 
times, then disconnected and rambling. A short selection 
like the one given shows him at his best. 

42 : 31. Lord Shaftesbury. A celebrated English philos- 
opher and moralist. Born 1671, died 1713. 

AN ADDRESS 

Though published at the time as an address of " Sundry 
Citizens," it is known that Mr. Rhett is the sole author of 
this clear, forceful appeal " to the People of the State of 
South Carolina." It was issued June 12, 1828, and is to be 
found in the Charleston (S.C.) Courier of June 19, 1828, 
from which this copy is taken. 

44 : 2. The Tariff Bill. This is the Tariff Act of 1828, 
known as the " tariff of abominations," which, with the 
act of 1832, led to the Nullification Ordinance of South 
Carolina. 

45 : 11. Collected together in our district capacities, etc. 
Resolutions of protest against the proposed tariff legislation 
were passed by meetings of prominent citizens in South 
Carolina in the summer of 1827, and sent to the legislatures 
of several Southern States. In 1828the legislature of the State 
formally passed the South Carolina exposition, and submitted 
it to the next session of Congress as a memorial of protest 
against protective tariff legislation. 

45 : 20. Unconstitutional legislation. Mr. Rhett, as he 
explains farther along in this address, believed protective 
tariff laws unconstitutional. 

48 : 10. The second clause of the tenth section of the first 
article of the Constitution reads as follows: " No State shall, 
without the consent of the Congress, lay any imposts or duties 
on imports or exports, except what may be absolutely 
necessary for executing its inspection laws; and the net 



NOTES 325 

produce of all duties and imports, laid by any State on 
imports or exports, shall be for the use of the Treasury of 
the United States; and all such laws shall be subject to the 
revision and control of the Congress." 

50 : 29. The last war. The War of 1812. The cause 
of this war was the impressment of our seamen and the 
disregard of our commercial rights as a neutral. 

ON THE GEORGIA PROTEST 

Delivered in the U. S. Senate, Jan. 12, 1829. Found in 
the Register of Debates of Congress, 20th Congress, 2d Ses- 
sion, Vol. V, pp. 22 and 23. The occasion of the speech 
was the presentation to the Senate of a letter from the gov- 
ernor of Georgia conveying a protest of the Georgia State 
legislature against the Tariff Act of 1828. After the 
speech, on motion of Mr. Berrien, the letter and protest 
were ordered to be printed for the use of the Senate. 

53 : 23. In perpetuam rei memoriam. " For a perpetual 
memorial of the affair " (Webster's Dictionary). 

55 : 23. Casus omissus. A case (provision in this in- 
stance) omitted. 

THE APPORTIONMENT OF REPRESENTATION 

Delivered at Richmond, Va., Nov. 3-4, 1829, before the 
convention which had met to revise the constitution of Vir- 
ginia. Found in the reports of the Convention. Abridged. 

Dr. John W. Wayland (University of Virginia), who 
kindly made the selection, has this to say in explanation 
of the speech from which the extracts are printed :. — 

" The original constitution of the State of Virginia was 
revised and amended by a convention that was in session 
at Richmond from Oct. 5, 1829, to Jan. 15, 1830. Mr. 



326 NOTES 

Leigh, with John W. Jones and Samuel Taylor, both 
also from Chesterfield, and William B. Giles of Amelia, 
represented in the convention the district composed of the 
counties of Amelia, Chesterfield, Cumberland, Nottoway, 
Powhatan, and the town of Petersburg. The total number 
of delegates was ninety-six ; and to prove that they were an 
eminent number of men it need only be mentioned that 
among them were James Madison, James Munroe, John 
Tyler, John Marshall, and John Randolph of Charlotte, 
with many others scarcely less distinguished; yet in the 
midst of such an assemblage Benjamin Watkins Leigh was 
a leading figure. During the three-months session he made 
at least four long speeches; he took frequent and prominent 
part in debate and in the making of motions; and his work 
was not merely of the sort that deals with generalities, but 
also of the sort that grapples with particular cases and pro- 
poses specific plans. 

" One of the great questions — perhaps the greatest ques- 
tion — with which the convention had to deal, was the 
apportionment of delegates to the State legislature. The 
forces that rent the State asunder in 1861 were already in 
threatening evidence. The people of the eastern districts 
wanted representatives to the State legislature apportioned 
according to white population combined with the value of 
taxable property, or according to white population com- 
bined with a certain percentage of the negro population; 
while the people of the West wanted the representatives to 
be apportioned upon the basis of the white population ex- 
clusively. Mr. Leigh, of course, opposed this plan of the 
West. On Tuesday, Nov. 3, 1829, he began, and on 
the following day concluded, what was doubtless the great- 
est speech of his term in the convention, if not of .his life. 
The following paragraphs have been selected not only to 
illustrate the case already cited, but also, and more espe- 



NOTES 327 

cially, to give a fair notion of the orator's command of facts 
and language, and to show that much of what he said under 
the spur of occasion has a power and value for all time. It 
is always thus that real oratory is produced. Demosthenes 
without Philip, Cicero without Catiline, and Burke without 
the perils of his day, might not be heard at so great a dis- 
tance: each one strove for his own people and for his own 
time; but they all thereby spoke for humanity and for all 
time." 

57:11. Quis exul patria se quoque fugit. A fugitive 
from his country is also a fugitive from himself (his con- 
science). 

58 : 1. Cassandra. According to Grecian mythology, a 
maiden endowed with the gift of prophecy, but doomed to 
have her warnings go unheeded. 

59 : 19. Swift. Jonathan (Dean) Swift (1667-1745). 
The greatest of English satirists. 

59 : 28. Solon. A great Athenian lawgiver, noted for 
his wisdom. 

INAUGURAL ADDRESS 

Delivered Dec. 13, 1832, upon the occasion of his inaugu- 
ration as Governor of South Carolina. Found in Niles's 
Register, Dec. 22, 1832, pp. 278-279. 

65 : 17. Great struggle in which we are engaged. The 
struggle between South Carolina and the U. S. government 
because of the State's nullification of the Tariff Acts of 1828 
and 1832. 

65 : 20. Sovereign authority of the State. As was shown 
by his famous joint debate with Webster, January, 1830, 
Hayne was an advocate of the States-rights theory of our 
government, which is that the national government is the 
creature, the agent of the States, with whom rests sovereign 
authority, 



328 NOTES 

68 : 23. A constitutional controversy. The nullifiers, 
Calhoun particularly, claimed that nullification was a con- 
stitutional right. They based their argument on the Tenth 
Amendment of the Constitution, which reads: "The powers 
not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor 
prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States 
respectively, or to the people." 

Mr. George McDufne in his " Eulogy on Hayne " quotes 
as follows from a distinguished speaker who heard Mr. 
Hayne deliver this address: " It was one of the most suc- 
cessful displays of eloquence I ever heard. It inspired the 
hearers with irresistible enthusiasm which burst forth in 
involuntary plaudits. I was agitated and subdued under 
its influence; many wept from excitement, and all, of all 
parties, were carried away, entranced by the magic powers 
of the speaker." 

THE FORCE BILL AND NULLIFICATION 

Delivered in the U. S. Senate, Feb. 15, 1833. Found in 
Register of Debates, Vol. IX, Part I (1832-1833), pp. 519- 
553. 

72 : 16. This bill reported. The Revenue Collection 
(Force) Bill, empowering the President to enforce congres- 
sional tariff acts in South Carolina, who had nullified the 
Tariff Acts of 1828 and 1832. 

76 : 18. Peace Russia gives Poland. Russia, who had 
acquired most of Poland, put down a revolt there in 1830- 
1831, with great severity. 

78 : 22. Newton or Laplace. Sir Isaac Newton (1642- 
1727), a famous English mathematician and natural philos- 
opher, noted especially for his discovery of the law of gravi- 
tation. Laplace (1749-1827), a great French astronomer 
and mathematician, called sometimes " The Newton of 
France." 



NOTES 329 

79 : 4. Galileo and Bacon. Galileo (1564-1642), an 
Italian physicist and astronomer, best known for his inven- 
tion of the telescope. Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626), a 
noted English philosopher, is best known for his advocacy 
of experimental methods in scientific investigation. 

80 : 8. Nero and Caligula. Two Roman emperors noted 
for their cruelty. 

83 : 27. Principles of '98. The Virginia Resolutions of 
1798. 

ON THE POWER OF THE EXECUTIVE 

Delivered in the House of Representatives, April 4, 1834. 
Found in Register of Debates, Vol. X, Part III, pp. 3443- 
3471. Abridged. 

85 : 6. Present Executive. Andrew Jackson, who was 
President of the United States from 1829 to 1837. 

87 : 13. Objections to the bank. In his first message to 
Congress, President Jackson declared that the Second Bank 
of the United States, chartered in 1816 to run for twenty 
years, was unconstitutional and had failed in the purpose for 
which it was created. In subsequent messages he continued 
his attack. In 1832, Congress, led by Henry Clay, passed an 
act rechartering the Bank, but Jackson returned the bill 
with his veto, and the necessary two thirds to pass the bill 
over his veto could not be secured. The rechartering of 
the Bank was the chief issue in the presidential campaign of 
that year, and Jackson was overwhelmingly elected. He 
considered the result a national approval of his opposition 
to the Bank, and in September, 1833, caused his Secretary 
of the Treasury to divert the government funds, which 
according to its charter were to be deposited in the Bank 
of the United States, to State banks (called " pet banks "). 
It was for this act, which the friends of the Bank termed a 
usurpation of executive authority, that Mr. McDuffle was 



330 NOTES 

inveighing against President Jackson in the speech from 
which we have selected extracts. 

88 : 1. Thanks, gentle citizens. Cf. Richard III, Act III, 
Scene 7. 

89 : 7. Liegemen of the Dane. Cf . Hamlet, Act I, Scene 1. 
— Parliaments [parlements] of France. Law courts, not to 
be confounded with the lawmaking body of England. 

89 : 27. Car of Juggernaut. A famous Hindoo idol. 
On certain festival occasions, he is drawn out of his temple 
on a car of sixteen wheels, and as the excited people crowd 
around, some fatalities usually occur, which has given rise 
to the popular idea that devotees sacrifice themselves to the 
idol. 

90 : 3. Pandemonium. Mr. Hugh McQueen (" Orator's 
Touchstone," p. 95) has the following to say of Mr. McDufne's 
use of this word: " A very intelligent gentleman who heard 
his (McD.'s) celebrated speech on the removal of the deposits 
by General Jackson, observed at a period long after the 
speech in question had been delivered, that many of the 
identical words uttered by Mr. McDume in delivering that 
speech, continued then to linger upon his ear, and that the 
term ' Pandemonium,' which was used in some way as being 
applicable to General Jackson and his cabinet, whilst it 
appeared to fall like a peal of thunder in the hall of Repre- 
sentatives when it was uttered, still seemed to ring in his 
ear at the time he alluded to the subject." 

90 : 26. Lord Protector Cromwell. The most famous 
leader of the Parliamentarians in the struggle between the 
English King and Parliament, 1640-1649. Cromwell was 
Lord Protector of the realm from 1653 to 1658. 

93 : 1. Prospero. A leading character in Shakespeare's 
comedy The Tempest who was skillful in the magic arts. 

93 : 19. Bonaparte . . . dispersed the Chamber of Depu- 
ties. Upon returning from his Egyptian campaign in 1799, 



NOTES 331 

Napoleon overthrew the Directory, the executive of the 
French government, dispersed the Council of Five Hundred, 
and had himself declared First Consul. 

95 : 7. " Carthage must be destroyed." The words of 
the Roman senator, Cato the Elder, who, convinced that the 
city of Carthage was the most formidable rival of Rome, 
always ended his speeches — whatever the subject — with 
the words: Ceterum censeo, Carthaginem esse delendam 
(moreover, I vote that Carthage must be destroyed). 

95 : 23. Roman emperor . . . fiddling. Nero, Emperor 
from 54 to 68. Tradition has it that during the fire of 
64 a.d. which destroyed about two thirds of the city of 
Rome, Nero viewed the spectacle from a distance and 
amused himself the while by fiddling and reciting verses 
about the burning of Troy. 

96 : 28. Temple . . . Ephesian torch. Reference is here 
evidently made to the burning of the famous temple of 
Diana at Ephesus by the Goths, 263 a.d. 

97 : 14. " Compunctious visitings." Cf. Shakespeare's 
Macbeth, Act I, Scene 5. 

LAFAYETTE 

Delivered at Jackson, Miss., August, 1834. Copied from 
" Memoir of Prentiss/' Vol. I, pp. 147-156. Mr. Prentiss's 
brother writes as follows in the " Memoir " (Vol. I, p. 147) 
concerning this speech: "It is evidently a hasty effusion, 
and is said to have been written, at a single sitting, a night 
or two before its delivery. Although it may now sound 
extravagant, even for an eulogy, it only echoed the senti- 
ment which pervaded the entire nation, when the news came 
that their beloved friend and benefactor was no more." 
The speaker was only twenty years old when the eulogy 
was delivered. Though others of his speeches a^e more 



332 NOTES 

famous, notably his three days' argument before the House 
of Representatives in defense of his claim to a seat in Con- 
gress, 1838, no accurate report was kept of any of them. 
The selection given seems to be the only speech which he 
committed to writing before delivery and gave out for 
publication afterwards. 

98 : 13. Kosciusko. A Polish patriot (1746-1817). He 
fought on the American side during the Revolutionary 
War. Afterwards he returned to Poland and led his coun- 
trymen in their struggle for freedom against the Russians 
and Prussians (1792-1795). Wounded, captured, and im- 
prisoned, he was liberated in 1796, when he left his dis- 
membered country. He died in Switzerland from the effects 
of a fall from his horse. 

102 : 22. Nestor. Famous in Grecian legend as the oldest 
and wisest councillor of the Greeks before Troy. 

103 : 11. Jacobins. A political club formed in France 
near the beginning of the French Revolution. Lafayette 
at first belonged to the club, but its views soon became too 
radical for him. 

103 : 21. Olmutz. A town in Moravia, Austria, where 
Lafayette was imprisoned from 1792-1797. 

103 : 31. Two chivalric young men. Dr. J. Erick Boll- 
man, a young German physician, and Mr. Francis Kinlock 
Huger of South Carolina, who together made a daring but 
unsuccessful attempt to rescue Lafayette from his confine- 
ment at Olmutz. (See Headley's "Life of Lafayette," pp. 
320-329.) 

104 : 8. Minstrel friend . . . Richard. While returning 
from the Third Crusade, 1192, Richard, the Lion-hearted, 
was seized by Leopold, Duke of Austria, who handed him 
over to Emperor Henry VI, by whom he was cast into prison. 
According to a mediaeval legend a faithful minstrel wandered 
over Germany and played at every castle the airs that were 



NOTES 333 

familiar to his lord, hoping thereby to let Richard know that 
his friends were thinking of him and planning his deliverance. 

104 : 17. Child of Destiny. Napoleon Bonaparte, made 
First Consul of France in 1799. 

105 : 14. Mecca. The birthplace of Mohammed, to 
which all his devout followers desire to make a pilgrimage. 

105 : 22. Marengo and Austerlitz. Two of Napoleon's 
most famous victories — the first over the Austrians in 
Italy (1800), and the second over the allied Austrians and 
Russians in Austria (1805). 

THE ADMINISTRATION OF ANDREW JACKSON 

Delivered in the U. S. Senate, Jan. 12, 1837. Found 
in Register of Debates, Vol. XIII, Part I, pp. 382-391. 

In 1832 President Jackson vetoed a bill for the recharter- 
ing of the U. S. Bank, and the following year had the Secre- 
tary of the Treasury discontinue the deposit of govern- 
ment funds in the Bank. Henry Clay and other political 
opponents of Jackson persuaded the Senate to adopt the fol- 
lowing resolution : " Resolved, that the President, in the late 
executive proceedings in relation to the revenue, has assumed 
upon himself authority and power not conferred by the 
constitution and laws, but in derogation of both." Senator 
Benton at once set himself the task of having this resolution 
expunged from the journal of the Senate. For three years 
the Senate refused to listen to his appeals, till finally in 1837, 
four days after the delivery of the speech from which this 
selection is taken, the Senate passed the following resolu- 
tion: " That the said resolve be expunged from the journal; 
and, for that purpose, that the Secretary of the Senate, at 
such time as the Senate may appoint, shall bring the manu- 
script journal of the session 1833-1834 into the Senate, 
and, in the presence of the Senate, draw black lines round the 



334 NOTES 

said resolve, and write across the face thereof, in strong 
letters, the following words: ' Expunged by order of the 
Senate, this 16th day of January, in the year of our Lord 
1837.' " 

INAUGURAL ADDRESS 

Delivered Oct. 14, 1839, on the day he was inaugurated as 
governor of Tennessee. It is a clear statement of the theory 
of the States Rights party as to the nature of the Federal 
Constitution. This selection is taken from the address as 
found in Jenkins's " Life of James K. Polk." 

123 : 24. Bank of the United States . . . finally over- 
thrown. During President Jackson's fight with the U. S. 
Bank, Mr. Polk was his chief lieutenant in the House of 
Representatives. 

126 : 12. The agitation of the Abolitionists. Mr. Polk 
was Speaker of the House from 1835 to 1839, and during that 
time the struggle in Congress over Abolitionists' petitions 
was most bitter. 

INAUGURAL ADDRESS 

Delivered in September, 1846, on the occasion of his 
inauguration as president of South Carolina College. The 
address was printed in pamphlet form at the request of the 
students, and this copy was obtained from a volume of bound 
pamphlets in the library of the late B. I. Witherspoon, 
Esq., which is now in possession of Rev. J. K. Hall, 
McConnellsville, S.C. The discourse is in Mr. Preston's 
best style, though somewhat more formal than was usual 
with him. 

131 : 20. Ac fuit quidem cum mini, etc. " And, indeed, 
there was a time when I myself thought, that if my vast 



NOTES 335 

labors at the bar, and the toils of ambition had ceased with 
the attainment of public honors, and the advance of age, 
scarce any one could have thought it unreasonable, that I 
should have then begun to taste some relief, and to devote 
myself to those noble studies of which we are both of us so 
fond/' (Cicero's De Oratore, Book I, Chapter I. Transla- 
tion from " The Classical Library.") 

A PLEA FOR THE UNION 

This selection is the conclusion of Mr. Clay's famous speech 
on his compromise resolutions, delivered in the U. S. Senate, 
Feb. 5 and 6, 1850. It is said that " thousands of people, 
many from a distance, came to hear this last great speech of 
this most magnetic of American orators." A few weeks 
later Mr. Calhoun (March 3) and Mr. Webster (March 7) 
delivered their last great speeches in the Senate and joined 
their voices with Clay's in pleading for the settlement of 
disputed questions and the restoration of quiet and good 
feeling. The speech in full is found in Appendix to the 
Congressional Globe, Vol. 22, pp. 115-127. Mr. Clay's 
style is so clear and simple that there are no portions of the 
speech that require an explanation. 



THE SOUTH'S RIGHTS IN THE UNION AND IN 
THE PUBLIC DOMAIN 

Delivered Aug. 9, 1850, during the discussion of the 
famous Compromise Bill of 1850. The occasion of the 
speech was a message of President Fillmore to Congress 
urging that the boundary of Texas be fixed, and stating 
that the commonwealth is planning to extend its civil 
jurisdiction over a stretch of territory which he thinks belongs 



336 NOTES 

to the general government, and that as President he will 
have to resist this encroachment by force of arms. This 
selection is taken from the speech as found in the " Appendix 
to the Congressional Globe," Vol. 22, Part 2, pp. 1080-1084. 

158 : 23. The patriarch . . . and his friend and kins- 
man. Reference to the friendly separation of Abraham and 
Lot and the division of pasture lands between them. 

160 : 5. Promethean spark. According to Grecian my- 
thology, Prometheus gave life to men by means of fire stolen 
from heaven. 

EULOGY ON HENRY CLAY 

Delivered in the House of Representatives, June 30, 1852, 
the day after the death of Mr. Clay. Found in Congressional 
Globe, Vol. 24, Part 2, 1st Session, 32d Congress, pp. 1637, 
1638. 

164 : 25. Memorable session of 1849-1850. During this 
session the famous Compromise of 1850 was passed, of which 
Mr. Clay was the moving and leading spirit. 

171 : 31. Struggles of modern Greece for freedom . . . 
liberty born in the South American bosom. A generous 
patriotic heart like Clay's naturally sympathized with Greece 
and the South American states in their struggle for freedom 
during the first quarter of the nineteenth century. When 
memorials of sympathy for Greece were introduced in Con- 
gress, Mr. Clay supported them, and during his secretaryship 
of state he strongly advocated the sending of delegates to 
the Panama Congress of Spanish- American States. 

ON THE KANSAS-NEBRASKA BILL 

Delivered in the U. S. Senate, March 3, 1854. Found in 
Appendix to Congressional Globe, New Series, Vol. 31, 
pp. 407-415. Abridged. 



NOTES 337 

175 : 28. Upon two memorable occasions. The Missouri 
Compromise (1820) and the Compromise of 1850. 

179 : 15. Hydra. According to Grecian mythology a 
serpent with nine heads, each of which, when cut off, was 
succeeded by two new ones. Here the figure evidently 
refers to the slavery abolition sentiment of the North. 

179 : 26. Soft Shell . . . Democrats. The name given 
(between 1852 and 1860) to antislavery Democrats in the 
North. 

181 : 1. A great . . . patriotic party. The Democratic 
party, led at the North at this time by Stephen A. Douglas, 
the author of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill. 

ON THE KANSAS-NEBRASKA BILL 

Delivered in the U. S. Senate, March 3, 1854. Found in 
Appendix to Congressional Globe, New Series (1854), 
Vol. 31, pp. 338-342. Abridged. 

183 : 2. This measure. The Kansas-Nebraska Bill, pro- 
viding not only for the territorial organization of Kansas 
and Nebraska and giving the people of the Territories the 
right to decide for themselves the slavery question, but also 
repealing the Missouri Compromise of 1820. Mr. Houston's 
alarm over the passage of this bill was well founded and shows 
his wisdom as a statesman; for unquestionably the repeal 
of the Act of 1820 and the struggle in Kansas over slavery 
hastened the coming of the conflict of the Sixties. 

DANIEL WEBSTER— HIS GENIUS AND 
CHARACTER 

Delivered before the Literary Club and Citizens of Mont- 
gomery, Ala., December, 1854. Found in a published col- 
lection of Mr. Hilliard's speeches. Abridged. 

192 : 5. Clarendon . . . Duke of Buckingham. Edward 



338 NOTES 

Hyde, Earl of Clarendon (1608-1674) and Prime Minister 
of Charles II, was the author, of a " History of the Rebel- 
lion " (1640-1649). The Duke of Buckingham (George 
Villiers) (1592-1628) was the court favorite and adviser of 
James I and Charles I. 

192 : 15. Mont Blanc. The highest peak of the Alps. 

193 : 14. Dome Michael Angelo hung. St. Peter's 
Church (Rome), the largest Christian place of worship in 
the world. Michael Angelo (1475-1564), the great Italian 
sculptor, painter, and architect, was one of the chief archi- 
tects who planned St. Peter's, and is especially responsible 
for the dome. 

193 : 23. Demosthenes (383-322 B.C.). The great Gre- 
cian orator. The quotation is from Milton's " Paradise 
Regained," Book IV. 

194 : 17. Mammon . . . least erected spirit . . . were 
always downward bent, etc. Milton's " Paradise Lost," 
Book I, 1. 679, etc. 

196 : 13. John Randolph and Pinkney. For sketches of 
these men, see elsewhere in this volume. . 

196 : 25. Speech ... 7th of March, 1850. This speech 
was delivered in advocacy of Mr. Clay's Compromise (Omni- 
bus) Bill of 1850, and is one of the greatest of Mr. Webster's 
life. 

196 : 31. Achilles. The greatest of the Greek heroes 
before Troy. The quotation is from the " Iliad " (Pope's) 
Book 18, closing lines. 

197 : 7. General Taylor. Zachary Taylor (1784-1850), 
President of the United States, 1849-1850. The quotation 
is from the "Iliad" (Pope's), Book 24, closing lines. 

197 : 28. Cicero . . . Burke. Cicero (106-43 B.C.), the 
greatest orator of Rome. Edmund Burke, (1729-1797), one 
of the greatest of English orators and statesmen. 

199 : 11. The greatest speech, etc. This was the speech 



NOTES 339 

which culminated the debate between Webster and Hayne 
on the nature of our government. It was delivered Jan. 
26, 1860. 

200 : 18. Thackeray. William Makepeace Thackeray 
(1811-1863), a famous English humorist and novelist. 

THE AMERICAN PARTY AND THE ROMAN 
CATHOLICS 

Delivered during Mr. Wise's campaign for the governor- 
ship of Virginia, in 1855. Found in Wise's " Life of Henry 
A. Wise," pp. 192-195. 

203 : 5. Louis XVI. King of France from 1774 till 1793, 
when he was beheaded by the French Revolutionists. It is 
a stretch of imagination to say that he sent Lafayette, the 
" boy of Washington's camp," to America. 

203 : 10. De Kalb. " A native of Prussia who had long 
been in the service of France." He did valiant service in 
the American Revolution till he fell at Camden, 1781. 

204 : 14. Stephen Langton. Archbishop of Canterbury 
and a leader of the barons when Magna Carta was forced 
from King John of England, June 15, 1215. 

204 : 24. Know-nothings. Because of the reticence of its 
adherents to express the principles they stood for, the 
American party, anti-foreign in its views, was dubbed the 
" Know-nothing Party " by political opponents. 

205 : 5. The Jesuits. A society of the Roman Catholic 
Church, founded by Ignatius Loyola in 1540, for the purpose 
of winning back the revolting Protestants to the Romish 
Church. 

205 : 7. Machiavellian. A reference to the teachings of 
Niccolo Machiavelli, a famous Italian historian and diploma- 
tist of the sixteenth century. In his book " The Prince " 
he advocated lying when necessary to carry the measure; 



340 NOTES 

force and fraud when success could not be otherwise obtained ; 
tyranny, if needful to keep a tyrant on his throne; murder 
and bloodshed as means if essential to obtain an end. It is 
only fair to say, however, that Machiavelli counseled the 
employment of honorable methods as the most sagacious 
course, when feasible, though his morality was of his century. 

ON THE ADMISSION OF KANSAS UNDER THE 
LECOMPTON CONSTITUTION 

Delivered Thursday, Feb. 25, 1858, in the House of Repre- 
sentatives. Found in Congressional Globe, Vol. 36 (1st 
Session, 35th Congress), Part I, pp. 817-820. Abridged. 

207 : 1. The Kansas Bill. The Kansas-Nebraska Bill of 
1854, the terms of which are immediately explained. A 
large part of Mr. Curry's speech is taken up in showing that 
the adoption of the Lecompton Constitution was in accord- 
ance with this bill, and that those opposing the admission of 
Kansas are really renouncing the Kansas-Nebraska Bill. 

207 : 5. The unconstitutional Missouri restrictions. The 
Missouri Compromise of 1820 which was repealed by the 
passage of the Kansas-Nebraska Bill of 1854. 

208 : 19. Bitter waters of Marah. Cf. Exodus 15 : 23. 

209 : 21. Ab avo usque ad malum = " from the egg to 
the apples" (said of a dinner); "from beginning to end." — 
Governor Walker. Robert James Walker (1801-1869). He 
was governor of the Territory of Kansas, 1857-1858. 

THE PLATFORM OF THE DEMOCRATIC PARTY 

Speech delivered before the National Democratic Con- 
vention, Charleston, S.C., April 27, 1860. Copied from the 
Mobile Register, May 12, 1860, which professes to take it 
from the Charleston Mercury. The copy of the Register 
from which the selection is taken is the property of Dr. 



NOTES 341 

George Petrie, Alabama Polytechnic Institute, who has 
kindly furnished me with the portions of the speech here 
printed. A few verbal changes and omissions have been 
made. 

215 : 3. Resolutions . . . majority. The committee on 
platform brought in a majority and a minority report. In 
order to bring out the point of Mr. Yancey's speech, we give 
the sections of the two reports bearing on the slavery ques- 
tion. 

Majority Report 

Resolved, That the Platform adopted at Cincinnati be 
affirmed, with the following resolutions : — 

1. Resolved, That the National Democracy of the United 
States hold these cardinal principles on the subject of 
Slavery in the Territories : First, That Congress has no power 
to abolish slavery in the Territories. Second, That the 
Territorial Legislature has no power to abolish slavery in 
any Territory, nor to prohibit the introduction of slaves 
therein, nor any power to exclude slavery therefrom, nor 
any power to destroy or impair the right of property in 
slaves by any legislation whatever. 

2. Resolved, That the enactments of State Legislatures 
to defeat the faithful execution of the Fugitive Slave Law 
are hostile in character, subversive of the Constitution, and 
revolutionary in their effect. 

3. Resolved, That it is the duty of the Federal Govern- 
ment to protect, when necessary, the rights of persons and 
property on the high seas, in the Territories, or wherever 
else its Constitutional authority extends. 

Minority Report 
1. Resolved, That we, the Democracy of the Union, in 
Convention assembled, hereby declare our affirmance of 
the Resolutions unanimously adopted . and declared as a 



342 NOTES 

Platform of principles by the Democratic Convention at 
Cincinnati, in the year 1856, believing that Democratic 
principles are unchangeable in their nature, when applied 
to the same subject-matters; and we recommend as the only 
further resolutions the following : 

2. Resolved, That all questions in regard to the rights of 
property in States or Territories, arising under the Consti- 
tution of the United States, are judicial in their character; 
and the Democratic party is pledged to abide by and faith- 
fully carry out such determination of these questions as has 
been or may be made by the Supreme Court of the United 
States. 

3. Resolved, That it is the duty of the United States to 
afford ample and complete protection to all of its citizens, 
whether at home or abroad, and whether native or foreign 
born. 

It was shortly after these resolutions were submitted 
to the Convention, and on the same day, that Mr. Yancey 
spoke. His speech probably caused the split in the Conven- 
tion; for, later, he withdrew, followed by a large number 
of the Southern delegates. 

217 : 27 *We of the South. Possibly put in italics by the 
Mobile paper which alludes editorially to this passage. 

220 : 8. Hercules in his cradle. Reference to the Gre- 
cian myth that two serpents attempting to strangle the 
infant Hercules were overcome by his superhuman strength. 

222 : 20. Squatterism . . . popular sovereignty. In an 
effort to solve the perplexed question of slavery in the 
territories, Messrs. Cass (Mich.) and Douglas (111.) hit upon 
the plan of allowing the settlers, at the time of organizing 
the territorial government, to decide the question for them- 
selves. This policy was known as popular or squatter 
sovereignty and was incorporated in Mr. Douglas's Kansas- 
Nebraska Bill, 1854. 



NOTES 343 

222 : 21. Lecompton Constitution. The constitution 
drawn up and submitted to Congress by the proslavery 
party in Kansas, when they applied for the admission of the 
State into the Union. 

223 : 24. The honorable Chief Justice. Roger B. Taney, 
Chief Justice of the U. S. Supreme Court from 1835 to 1864. 
He handed down the decision of the Court in the Dred Scott 
case. 

225:21. Obiter dicta. Things said in passing, not di- 
rectly connected with the case under consideration. 

SOUTH CAROLINA AND SECESSION 

Delivered in the U. S. Senate, Dec. 13, 1860, during the 
discussion of a resolution providing for the appointment of a 
committee of thirteen to inquire into the agitated condition 
of the country. 

232 : 2. Their palmetto has withered. The defense of 
Fort Moultrie in Charleston harbor, during the Revolu- 
tionary War, was made effective by a fort of palmetto logs. 
In commemoration of this event, the palmetto tree, a species 
of palm, was made the emblem of South Carolina and placed 
on the seal of the State. 

234 : 3. One of the States will . . . cease to be one of the 
United States. South Carolina passed an ordinance of 
secession Dec. 20, 1860. In November, a few days after the 
State legislature had called the secession convention, Sena- 
tors Chestnut and Hammond resigned their seats in the 
U. S. Senate. In the absence of her representatives, Mr. 
Wigfall, though senator from Texas, chose to defend his 
native State in her proposed act of secession. 

239 : 23. Thermopylae. A pass on the coast of Greece 
famous for the defense made there by Leonidas, king of the 
Spartans, and three hundred followers, against the invading 
Persian host under Xerxes. 



344 NOTES 

240 : 3. The Alamo. A fort in Texas captured, during 
the war for Texan independence, by Santa Anna, a Mexican 
general. Only five men survived the fall of the stronghold, 
and they were ordered shot by Santa Anna. 

ON PROPOSITIONS TO THE COMMITTEE OF 
THIRTEEN 

Delivered in the U. S. Senate, Jan. 7, 1861. Found in 
Congressional Globe, Part I, 2d Session, 36th Congress, pp. 
267-271. Abridged. 

242 : 4. Committee of thirteen. Early in the session of 
1860-1861 committees from both Houses of Congress were 
appointed for the purpose of arranging a compromise on the 
slavery question. Propositions were presented to the 
Senate committee of thirteen members by Messrs. Toombs, 
Seward, and Crittenden. Mr. Seward represented the anti- 
slavery views, Mr. Toombs the proslavery side, and Critten- 
den the more nearly compromise position, though his and 
Toombs's recommendations differed essentially in only one 
point. 

243 : 2. " Touch not Saguntum." In defiance to the orders 
of Rome, Hannibal besieged and captured Saguntum, a 
city of Iberia (Spain) and an ally of Rome. This bold step 
brought on the Second Punic War. 

248 : 28. An Old Bailey lawyer. " In towns " (during 
mediaeval times and later) " the Bailey meant the entire 
space inclosed within the walls, or vallum, and was used in 
connection with civil and criminal jurisdiction; hence the 
Old Bailey in London and the Bailey in Oxford." (Inter- 
national Encyclopaedia.) 

FAREWELL TO THE SENATE 

Delivered in the U.S. Senate, Jan. 21, 1861, on the occa- 
sion of his withdrawal from that body. Found in Congres- 



NOTES 345 

sional Globe, Part I, 2d Session, 36th Congress (1860-1861), 
p. 487. For a clear, compact statement of the Southern 
cause in the War of Secession, this speech is unsurpassed. 
It is a model of English style in chaste, lucid, forceful 
expression. 

256 : 23. A great man who now reposes with his fathers. 
John C. Calhoun, as indicated a few lines below. 

257 : 20. The name of a great man . . . invoked to 
justify coercion. A reference to Andrew Jackson, who was 
President when the South Carolina Nullification Ordinance 
was passed, and who declared by proclamation that he would 
execute the nullified laws within the State. 

FAREWELL TO THE SENATE 

Delivered in the U. S. Senate, Feb. 5, 1861. Found in 
Congressional Globe, Part 1, 2d Session, 36th Congress (1860- 
1861), pp. 721, 722. 

262 : 4. My colleague. John Slidell, senator from Louisi- 
ana from 1853 to 1861. Also Confederate Commissioner to 
England during the Civil War. 

262 : 19. Louisiana . . . acquired by purchase. Louisi- 
ana Territory, embracing, in the main, the western half of 
the Mississippi Valley, was purchased from France by the 
United States in 1803. 

264 : 25. James Monroe and Thomas Jefferson. Mr. 
Jefferson was President at the time of the Louisiana Pur- 
chase, and Mr. Monroe was sent to France as special com- 
missioner to negotiate the treaty. 

265 : 13. Mr. Justice Catron. John Catron (1778-1865) 
was Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Tennessee from 
1830 to 1836 and Justice of the U. S. Supreme Court from 
1837 to 1865. 

268 : 20. Hampden. John Hampden (1594-1643). An 
English statesman, famous for the leading part he took in 



346 NOTES 

the struggle between Parliament and King Charles I of 
England. 

268 : 21. Henry. See sketch of Patrick Henry found 
elsewhere in this volume. 

268 : 31. Chatham. William Pitt, the Elder (1708-1778). 
A famous English statesman and orator who defended with 
great eloquence the cause of the American colonies at the 
outbreak of the Revolution. In 1776 he was created by 
George III of England Viscount Pitt and Earl of Chatham. 

269 : 1. Lord North. Frederick North, Earl of Guilford 
(1732-1792). He was Prime Minister of George III during 
the American Revolution. 

269 : 28. Senile Executive. President James Buchanan 
(1791-1868), who was at this time seventy years old and was 
charged with weakness in handling the secession question 
in the South. 

EULOGY ON CHARLES SUMNER 

Delivered in the House of Representatives, April 27, 1874. 
Found in Congressional Record, Vol. 2, Part 4, pp. 3410, 
3411, 43d Congress, 1st Session. 

273 : 9. Charles Sumner. Charles Sumner (1811-1874), 
the subject of this eulogy, was a U.S. senator from 
Massachusetts from 1851 till his death. He was bitterly 
opposed to slavery. 

273 : 17. Johnson. Dr. Samuel Johnson, a great Eng- 
lish prose writer. The quotation is from his epitaph, 
written in Latin, on Goldsmith, " Nullum quod tetigit non 
ornavit." 

THE SOLID SOUTH 

This selection contains the concluding paragraphs of 
Senator Hill's speech on " The Solid South." It was de- 
livered in the U. S. Senate, May 10, 1879, during the consid- 
eration of the bill making appropriations for the legislative, 



NOTES 347 

executive, and judicial expenses of the government for the 
succeeding year. The entire speech is a very able reply to 
charges made against the South by Senators Blaine (Me.), 
Conkling (N.Y.), Edmunds (Vt.), and Chandler (Mich.) in 
the debates on this appropriation bill and the bill to pro- 
hibit military interference at elections which had passed 
the Senate the day before, May 9. In the opinion of Sena- 
tor Hill's son, B. H. Hill, Jr., this is the ablest speech of 
his father's long career as an orator. It is found in the Con- 
gressional Record, Vol. 9, Part 1, 46th Congress, 1st Ses- 
sion, pp. 1207-1219. 

283 : 4. Calhoun. John C. Calhoun (1782-1850), of 
South Carolina. He was the leader of the State Rights 
party in the South between 1825 and 1850. — Breckinridge. 
John C. (1821-1875), of Kentucky. Vice President of the 
United States from 1856-1860 and nominated for the presi- 
dency by the southern wing of the Democratic party in 1860. 

285 : 20. Greeley. Horace (1811-1872). Noted as the 
founder and editor of the New York Tribune. He was the 
presidential candidate of the Liberal Republicans and Demo- 
crats in 1872, but was defeated by Grant. 

286 : 26. Senator from New York. Roscoe Conkling 
(1829-1888). A leader of the Republican party in the 
U. S. Senate between 1867 and 1881. 

286 : 27. Senator from Maine. James G. Blaine (1830- 
1893), of Maine. He was the unsuccessful candidate of the 
Republican party for the presidency in 1884. Later he was 
Secretary of State under President Harrison. 

287 : 19. Two hundred and fifty thousand citizens dis- 
franchised, etc. This was effected by the Reconstruction 
Acts, which required in the oath of registration for voting a 
declaration that you had not participated in rebellion 
against the United States. Comparatively few white citi- 
zens could take the oath. 



348 NOTES 

288 : 25. Returning boards. " In some of the United 
States a board consisting of certain State officers, who are 
by law empowered to canvass and declare returns of elec- 
tions held within the State." (Century Dictionary.) 

THE SCATTERED NATION 

This selection consists of extracts from Vance's lecture on 
the Jews, his most finished and most widely known public 
lecture. It is to be found in pamphlet form and is also 
included in the sketch of his life by Dowd, pp. 369-399. 

295 : 1. Professor Maury. Matthew Fontaine Maury, 
born in Virginia in 1806 and died there, 1873. Best known 
by his writings on the sea, atmosphere, and physical geog- 
raphy. 

295 : 22. Seven times heated in the furnace. See Daniel 
3 : 19-25. 

296 : 19. De Quincey. Thomas De Quincey (1785-1859). 
A great English prose writer. 

297 : 27. Frederick the Great. Frederick II (1712-1786). 
King of Prussia from 1740 to 1786 and known as " The 
Great." Under his rule and leadership Prussia became one 
of the leading kingdoms of Europe and was raised to a 
position that enabled it to organize the present German 
Empire. 

298 : 4. Macaulay. Thomas Babington (Lord) Macau- 
lay (1800-1859). An eminent English essayist, historian, 
and statesman. 

298 : 8. Pantheon. A temple to all the gods. It was 
first erected in Rome, 27 B.C. 

298 : 10. Amphitheater (double theater). " An architec- 
tural structure invented by the Romans for exhibiting 
gladiatorial combats, fights of wild beasts, and other spec- 
tacles." " Iberian " should be " Flavian, " as the amphi- 



NOTES 349 

theater referred to was built at Verona in honor of the Fla- 
vian line of Roman emperors. The quotation from Macaulay, 
taken from his essay on " Von Ranke/' contains some slight 
inaccuracies and omissions. 

298 : 15. Pipin. Pipin the Short (714-768). Crowned 
king of the Franks in 741, he became the founder of 
the Carolingian line of kings which took its title from his 
father, Charles Martel. Pipin was the father of Gharle- 
magne, the most striking figure of the Middle Ages. 

298 : 22. Antioch. The ancient capital of the kingdom 
of Syria. In the early years of the Roman Empire it was a 
center of Greek learning and culture and was famed for its 
luxury. 

298 : 23. Mecca. The birthplace of Mohammed and 
consequently the sacred city of his followers. 

298 : 26. St. Paul. A famous cathedral in London. 
" The largest and most magnificent of all Protestant 
churches, and the most notable among English buildings of 
modern times." — Aaron, the first Jewish high priest, and 
Levi, head of the tribe of Levi. 

299 : 13. Memphian. From Memphis, a city of ancient 
Egypt. 

299 : 15. Ammon. An ancient Egyptian deity. 

299 : 16. Tyre and Sidon. Two ancient Phoenician 
cities situated on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea. 

299 : 17. Carthage. A city on the northern coast of 
Africa, and seat of the Carthaginian Empire, a bitter rival 
of republican Rome. 

299 : 19. Clio. In Grecian mythology, the muse of 
history. 

299:21. Erythraean Sea. A name applied by ancient 
writers to that part of the Indian Ocean including the Per- 
sian Gulf and Arabian Sea. 

299 : 22. Shinar. The plain between the Euphrates and 



350 NOTES 

Tigris rivers (Mesopotamia), known later as Chaldea, or 
Babylonia. 

301 : 4. Lebanon. A range of mountains in Syria, north 
of Palestine, famous for its cedars. 

303 : 27. Talmud. " The body of the Jewish and civil 
canonical law not comprised in the Pentateuch." 

304 : 1. Harps down from the willows. See Psalms 137 : 
1-4. 

304 : 10. Monarch . . . Southern Alleghanies. Mt. 
Mitchell, or Black Dome, the highest peak in the United 
States east of the Mississippi River. 

THE NEW SOUTH 

Delivered in the city of New York, Dec. 21, 1886, at the 
eighty-first anniversary celebration of the New England 
Society. No speech of recent years has attracted more 
attention throughout the country than this one by Mr. 
Grady. 

306 : 6. Benjamin H. Hill. See sketch of his life else- 
where in this volume. — Tammany Hall. A hall in New York 
City owned by the Tammany Society, but used as the head- 
quarters of political organization led by members of the 
Society, and popularly known as " Tammany Hall." (Cf. 
Century Dictionary.) 

308 : 1. Cavalier as well as the Puritan. In the revolution 
in England between 1640 and 1649, the supporters of the 
King were called Cavaliers, and those of Parliament, Puri- 
tans. Members of both factions emigrated to this country, 
the former settling mainly in the South and the latter in the 
North. 

308 : 8. John Smith. Hero of the early Virginia settle- 
ments and Miles Standish of the early New England colonies. 

308 : 31. Dr. Talmage. Thomas De Witt Talmage 



NOTES 351 

(1832-1902), a noted minister of the Reformed Dutch 
Church, who wrote many sermons and other works for 
publication. 

311 : 31. " Bill Arp." Charles Henry Smith, of Georgia, 
noted for his humorous writings, especially his weekly 
letters to the Atlanta Constitution, and Home and Farm of 
Louisville. 

312 : 30. Mason and Dixon's line. The boundary line 
between Pennsylvania and Maryland, named for the two 
Englishmen, Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon, who sur- 
veyed it in 1766 for William Penn and Lord Baltimore. 
The line afterwards became famous as the dividing line 
between the slaveholding and free States. 

314 : 14. Toombs. See sketch of his life given elsewhere 
in this volume. 

318 : 26. Those opposed eyes, etc. Cf. Shakespeare's 
I Henry IV, Act I, Scene 1. 



SOUTHERN WRITERS 

Selections in Prose and Verse. Edited by William P. Trent, 

Professor of English literature at Columbia University, 

Author of "A History of American Literature," 

"John Milton," etc. Cloth, i2mo, $1.10 

The aim of this volume is to furnish for school use a select 
anthology of the writings of Southern authors from the earliest 
times to the present day. While no writer or selection has been 
admitted without due consideration of literary qualities, the author 
has aimed to furnish material throwing light on various phases of 
Southern history, and he has also borne in mind the needs of classes 
in composition and in reading. Upwards of seventy-five authors 
such as Jefferson, Wirt, John Randolph of Roanoke, Calhour 
Wilde, Kennedy, Simms, Poe, Timrod, Hayne, Lanier, Cable, 
Harris, Page, and Allen are included ; and there are in addition 
two elaborate seccions dealing with the poetry of the Civil War 
and of the present day. A brief biographical and critical note 
precedes the selections from each author, but annotation is em- 
ployed only when it seems essential to clearness. Care has been 
taken to have the selections complete in themselves or else not 
scrappy in character. In some cases, notably that of Poe, sufficient 
material is given to enable the class to study the writer with some 
thoroughness. Materials, bibliographical and other, are also given 
which will guide the student to other Southern writers who could 
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